Eyes like Yours
by Taye Drya
Summary: Imagine if Sin had never come at the beginning of FFX when Tidus was on the salvage ship with Rikku. What would happen? Tikku. R&R please!
1. Dive Into the Heart

**A/N: Welcome to my story! waves I got the idea from my ponderings about how I think Rikku might be better for Tidus, rather than Yuna. I then read a story called "Al Bhed Blue" (which was very good, by the way, even if it's unfinished) that posed the question of what would have happened if Sin hadn't come in the beginning when Tidus was with Rikku on the salvage ship. I decided to use that idea for Eyes like Yours, too.**

**So, I hope you like this story and I would appreciate feedback, as this is my first FF story. Oh! And by the way, the Al Bhed translations will be right below the actual Al Bhed, in italics. Yeah**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X. I do, however, own the video game, the soundtrack and the official guide. )**

Eyes like Yours

1. Dive into the Heart

I had the distinct feeling that I'd fallen from the frying pan into the fire. I'd awoken at one of the most desolate, dank and dark crumbling temples I'd ever seen. I had then considered that thought and realized I'd never really seen a temple before, but I digress. After encountering a fiend about twice the size of me and somehow managing to escape, I took refuge inside the broken temple. It looked like it may have been a majestic place once upon a time, but now it looked like something out of a horror film.

It was also very cold. I'd fallen asleep next to a wimpy little fire that I'd managed to create, and woke up to yet another fiend, although it wasn't quite as hellish as the previous one. That was when I started sliding into the fire, figuratively of course. A person had come in to help me, appearing almost out of nowhere. Although oddly dressed, her feminine shape was still obvious through her wetsuit, and I imagined she was about my age, though I couldn't see her eyes, or much of her face for that matter, with her goggles on.

We'd defeated the fiend, and then she and her companions, who also seemed to appear out of nowhere, turned on me.

And now, here I am on this cold deck of a ship in the middle of an unknown ocean, my vision blurry and my head throbbing. The girl stood above me, arguing with some men.

"Ra ec hu veaht! Muug yd res! Ra'c zicd...y meddma tevvanahd," she was gesturing towards me, and I felt sick to my stomach. What was going on? It would be rather nice if I could understand what they were saying.

_He is no fiend! Look at him! He's just a little…different._

"Syh un veaht: drao yna dra cysa eh taydr," a man with a blonde mohawk responded, crossing his arms and sneering at me. When he saw that I was awake, he lifted me roughly off the ground and held his gun to my back. I immediately stiffened, but my patience was at a breaking point.

_Man or fiend: they are the same in death._

"Hey!" I yelled. "What the-"

"Cdub!" the girl shouted. "Mad res fung vun ic. Ra syo ryja cusa etay uv ruf du yldejyda dra niehc. E drehg dryd'c y meddma suna esbundyhd nekrd huf."

_Stop! Let him work for us. He may have some idea of how to activate the ruins. I think that's a little more important right now._

Mohawk guy scratched his head but seemed to agree. "Lyh ra cbayg yd ymm?" he asked her. She shrugged and turned to me. She leaned close, and I noticed that she'd removed her goggles, showing her eyes. I had to admit, they were pretty awesome. They were a vibrant green with dark spirals in them.

_Does he speak at all?_

"Tu oui cbayg Ym Prat?" she asked softly. I shrugged, laughing nervously at the situation.

_Do you speak Al Bhed?_

"I don't know what you're saying." She helped me up and tried again.

"Are you okay?" I started, not expecting the smooth voice to be understandable.

"You understand me?" I gasped, a grin spreading across my face as my headache started slowly ebbing away. "Awesome!"

"He says that if you help us activate these old ruins that we discovered beneath the boat, then you can stay. They haven't been touched for a long time, but soon…" she trailed off, smiling. "We should be able to salvage the big prize! What do you say?" she asked cheerfully.

"Uh, sure!" I replied, not having much of a choice either way. Get shot, or get wet. Considering I practically lived in water anyway, what with blitzball, the choice was easy. "When do we leave?"

"Hang on, just let me talk with Brother for a sec…" she headed over to mohawk guy, or apparently, 'Brother', leaving me by myself. I wandered about the deck aimlessly, trying to blend in to keep the gun faced away from me. I leaned against the railing, gazing out at the dark sea spread out before me. Before I had a chance to even think, the girl approached me again.

"Let's work!" she said, throwing a fist in the air. I couldn't help smiling at her silly grin. My bad mood was starting to go away, and I realized that this girl was actually not half bad. In fact, she was rather friendly. I decided to not mess things up, as these people were the only ones I knew in this strange new place.

"Roger!" And with that, we jumped over the side of the boat and into the water.

One hour and one angry octopus fiend later and the girl and I were swimming back to the salvage ship. The submerged ruins had been activated, and high beams of light lit of the dark water of the ocean. Despite my blitz training, I was starting to notice the need for air, and I was grateful we were returning. We'd activated several different devices on what I realized was an airship, and I could practically sense the girl's excitement from up ahead of me where she swam.

Finally, we reached the boat, and as I climbed on deck, I shook the water off me. The others were chattering animatedly, broad smiles everywhere as they headed through a door deeper into the ship. I went to follow, and mohawk guy immediately turned around and shoved me back.

"Oui, cdyo uidceta!" he shouted, and the door closed before I had a chance to escape inside. I groaned. I'd worked, hadn't I?

_You, stay outside!_

I went over to the railing I'd leaned against earlier before sliding to the floor. I rested my chin on my hands and leaned against the wall behind me, sighing. I realized with a start that I was very hungry. Apparently, in their eyes I was a fiend that didn't need to eat.

I must have dozed off because I awoke with a start to a quick tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see the girl smiling down at me and a tray in food in her hands.

"I figured you must be hungry," she explained, handing it down to me.

"Thanks," I said gratefully before digging in. She waited patiently for me to finish, wandering around the deck and fiddling with various machines.

I finally finished, but with my final bite started coughing a little when it went down the wrong tube. I laughed sheepishly as she giggled.

"You eat too fast!" she chided. There was a brief silence.

"So uh, what's your name?" I finally asked, feeling silly for constantly referring to her as 'the girl' in my thoughts.

"Rikku," she replied. My first thought was that it was a cute name. "Yours?"

"Tidus. So, where _are_ we exactly?"

"We're a little ways north of where we found you at Baaj Temple," she replied. "We're now heading Home, which is on an island much further north. It'll take a few days."

"What are you guys?" I asked, and then realized that that probably sounded fairly rude. "I mean-"

Rikku laughed. I loved her smile. "Did you get hit with Sin's toxin or something?" I immediately went silent, not really understanding what she meant. She paused, noticing my serious look. "Wait, did you really?"

"I don't know, all I know is that Zanarkand, umm, the city where I live was attacked by this Sin thing and then I just ended up at that temple and you know the rest from there," I confided with frustration. Rikku, for her part, was very silent.

"Is…something wrong?" I asked hesitantly. She shook her head.

"You must have been hit by the toxin," she concluded. "After all, Zanarkand has been in ruins for a thousand years."

I burst out laughing. "Of course it hasn't. I was just playing blitzball for the Zanarkand Abes last night!" This had to be a joke, but Rikku looked at me solemnly.

"Sin destroyed Zanarkand one thousand years ago," she stated.

"But, I saw it being attacked! Last night! Do I look a thousand years old to you?" Tidus asked, a little shaken. She shook her head.

"It's just the toxin. You'll be back to normal in no time, I'm sure. But you might not want to mention you're from Zanarkand to anyone else. We're Al Bhed, so we don't mind, but the teachings of Yevon say that it's some kind of a holy place. You might offend someone."

Zanarkand? A holy place? Confused though I was, the thought of that was still highly amusing. But the matter at hand was still pressing at the forefront of my mind. I knew that I had lived in Zanarkand. I had been the Abes' star player! That wasn't just some dream. And who were the Al Bhed?

"Who are the Al Bhed?" I asked, deciding to let the previous topic drop for now.

"We are. See our eyes?" I nodded, once again remembering her crazy cool eyes. "Well, that's one of the characteristics that make us Al Bhed. Also, we don't follow the teachings of Yevon. We live on an island called Bikanel Island…" She held up a startled hand, her eyes widening. "But don't repeat that to anyone! It's hidden, and for a good reason!"

After that, things got a little quiet as I contemplated her words. I suddenly felt exhausted after the long day. We leaned against the railing, and she removed her mask thing. She turned out to have long blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail with two braids falling from the bottom down her back, feathers attached to the ends. Once again, pretty cool.

"Well, I'm bushed; I'm going to go get some sleep." I looked down, wishing I could climb into a soft bed, but knowing I would probably be stuck out here if mohawk Brother guy wanted it so.

She must have seen my disappointed look, and she touched my shoulder. "Oh, it's okay; you have a room, too." I looked up, surprised, but with relief flooding through me. "I talked with Brother and he agreed that you could have a room here for a while and when we get to Home, then we can figure out what to do." She paused for a moment. "Do you remember where you live, or anything like that?"

I wanted to shout that I was from Zanarkand, but couldn't, so I shook my head. "Well, no problem! I'll just talk with Cid when we get there."

"How's the airship going to be? How did it end up all the way down there?" I asked, thinking fast. Maybe, if they were able to restore it, we could use it to fly to Zanarkand…

Rikku turned and looked at me, obviously shocked. I looked around, feeling put under the spotlight as she gazed at me calculatingly. "How did you know that was an airship?" She walked up, looking into my eyes. "You're obviously not Al Bhed."

"Because…why wouldn't I? I've been on them before, though not many times. I'm not a huge fan of flying…" I babbled. She was looking at me strangely again. "What?"

"Nobody else in Spira, other than the Al Bhed, knows of the airship. The rest of the airships from the past have been destroyed either by Sin or by time. We were lucky to find this one from a whispered rumor…"

I shrugged. What was there to really say? It was kinda difficult to prove that I knew what an airship was at this point in time. "Let's go to bed."

She stood for a moment longer, and then turned and led the way, her mind obviously distracted by my apparently surprising knowledge. I wish she would believe me about Zanarkand. Maybe, in time, she will.

As we walked through the dimly lit hallways of the ship, Rikku pointed out various important places. We'd passed by the kitchen a little ways back and were now heading past the bedrooms. "Your room will be on the other side of mine. We have a connected bathroom. If you wake up early, you may want to be careful about where you go…" She looked at me. "The others aren't very pleased that you're still here, or about the fact that you'll be coming to Home. They'll learn to like you though!" she murmured optimistically. I smiled. It wouldn't really matter to me. Rikku was good enough company. Although, it would be nice to walk through Home without being stoned or shot when I wasn't in Rikku's presence.

"Here it is," she whispered, careful not to wake any of the others. The door was painted blue, like most of the rest of the place. "Oh! Let me go get you some clothes!" She rushed off, and I stepped in. It was comfortable enough, with a bed, a small closet and a desk. I was just grateful to have a bed. Rikku came back with an Al Bhed outfit and a loose shirt and shorts in hand to sleep in. "This is Brother's, but it should fit. Everything you need is in here and in the bathroom over there…" She pointed to a door on the far side of the room. "Night!"

"Goodnight. Thanks Rikku." She nodded and off she went, rounding the corner at the end of the hallway. I closed the door and literally collapsed into the bed. I managed to stand up, if only for a minute, in order to change into the comfortable and dry bedclothes, and once again, collapsed. I heard the faucet running for a moment in the bathroom before I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I didn't even know it was morning. I couldn't find an alarm clock and it's not like there were any windows. My watch was on the other side of the room in the pocket of my blitz uniform, and I didn't feel like getting up and grabbing it. I finally decided that I didn't care if it was morning or not, because I was tired and the bed was very comfortable and I had never been a morning person. Besides, it's not like Rikku or the others would need me for whatever they were doing today. I was just an extra in the picture, really.

I flipped over onto my stomach, and just as I was falling asleep again, inhaling the clean scent of the pillow, there was a loud knock on the door and Rikku burst in, all smiles. "Morning!"

"Uh…morning. Was…up?" I asked, yawning, trying not to act irritated at the interruption.

"Brother wants to talk to you, so get dressed and take a shower as fast as you can! I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes." And she was gone. I vaguely wondered just how this Brother guy and I would talk when we spoke completely different languages, but in my fatigue, I didn't much care. I climbed into the shower, and that managed to wake me up a little.

After I'd changed, I glanced in the mirror and noticed just how different I really looked. The clothes looked very Al Bhed, or so I assumed, as I looked quite a bit like the other men I had seen on the ship. I wore a sleeveless black t-shirt with a silver buckle on the bottom right side. Over this I wore a blue vest with various pockets and buckles. I had on long black gloves and a silver buckle on my black belt. I was also wearing light tan pants that were tucked into black and blue boots. Not bad. I didn't have goggles, though.

Finally, I sighed and ran a hand through my damp hair. It clung to the sides of my face now, slightly annoying me, but I knew it would return to its normal spiky style in a little while, anyway. It didn't matter what I did, my hair would forever remain spiky.

Just as I was opening my door, Rikku showed up. She immediately grabbed my arm and started leading me. "He's so excited, Tidus! I told him that you knew about the airship, and he wants to find out everything he can!"

I laughed, letting her guide me down the many long hallways. "Well, I don't know how to run one very well, but I can probably explain how it works and things like that."

"That's great!"

We finally reached our destination, which turned out to be the deck, once again. I couldn't help grinning in relief at the sun high in the sky. It had been so dark the day before, and for some reason I had assumed it would be like this until we reached Home. After all, if Rikku lived there, it couldn't be too dark. It just didn't fit in with her personality.

I could tell that Brother was enthused about the airship and that I knew how to use one, but I could tell he still wasn't particularly fond of me. He was gazing appraisingly at the clothes I was wearing, but didn't say anything. He was somewhat stiff, and I wondered if he still thought of me as a fiend. What caused these people to be so wary of outsiders?

"Rikku, femm oui dnyhcmyda vun ic?" I heard him ask. Rikku nodded. She turned to me.

_Rikku, will you translate for us?_

"I will be your translator for today, but soon you're going to have to learn the language," she pointed out, teasing. I nodded, figuring that was probably a good idea. I got the feeling that Brother wouldn't be too keen on learning how to speak like me.

"Frana ryc ra paah uh yh yencreb pavuna?"

"Where have you been on an airship before?" Rikku translated for me. "Oh! Umm, here, let me explain for you." I figured she was going to cover up for me by saying that my memory was a little muddled from Sin's toxin, but I didn't mind. "Ra cyoc dryd ra icat du neta dras pylg eh Zanarkand. Oac, E ghuf, dryd'c esbuccepma, pid ra nyh ehdu Sin y meddma frema yku. Cu, E lyh'd naymmo pa cina frana ra'c ahluihdanat yh yencreb, pid uhla rec sasuno lmaync fa lyh ycg ykyeh." Yep, that was definitely the 'Sin's toxin' explanation right there.

_He says that he used to ride them back in Zanarkand. Yes, I know, that's impossible, but he ran into Sin a little while ago. So, I can't really be sure where he's encountered an airship, but once his memory clears we can ask again._

Brother nodded, but was obviously a little miffed at whatever Rikku said. "Tuac ra ghuf ruf du ubanyda uha? Tuac ra ghuf dra pycelc?"

"Do you know how to operate one? Do you know the basics?" Rikku asked me.

"Well, like I said, I do know the basics. I could turn one on, I might be able to steer a little and things like that, but how the airship is put together and the anatomy of it I don't know." Rikku translated what I said to her brother.

"Drah fa'na kuehk du haat rec ramb." Brother stated, and Rikku smiled in response.

"Apparently, we'll need your help." She turned to Brother. "Yvdan fa'ja veqat yht lmayhat ib dra yencreb, ra luimt ramb ic ubanyda ed yd Rusa. Cid fuh'd pa lnywo ypuid res paehk drana pid...E drehg ra'mm kad icat du dra etay. Fryd tu oui cyo?"

_After we've fixed and cleaned up the airship, he could help us operate it at Home. Cid won't be crazy about him being there but...I think he'll get used to the idea. What do you say?_

Brother nodded and left, obviously satisfied with the conversation. "So, do you have any other machina on you or anything that you can show us? Spira's a little short on advanced technology."

I thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Uh, yeah! I've got a watch that I got a long time ago, but I don't think it's very advanced. Just a normal watch." Rikku gave me a questioning look. "You…know what a watch is right?" She looked a little embarrassed, but shook her head no. I laughed out loud, clutching my sides for support.

"Hey!" she protested. "It's not like I can help it! Don't be a jerk!" She giggled a little, despite her 'anger.'

That just made me laugh harder, but I finally agreed to take her down to my room to show it to her.

"I'd taken it off at the temple and put it in my pocket so the water wouldn't hurt it. As far as I know, it's fine; it might have just gotten a little damp. I took it off last night and forgot to put it back on," I explained on the way.

When I pulled the watch out of the my yellow jacket, she cocked her head and took it in her hands. I tried to ignore the cute expression of curiosity on her face. I pressed a button, and it turned on. Her eyes lit up.

"It's got the time, contacts of friends and family, and a few other things, too," I commented.

"I'll have to show this to Brother! I've never seen anything like it…"

"I can't believe they don't have watches in Spira…What do you guys use to tell time?"

"Well, we have normal clocks, but not watches."

"So, want to give me a formal tour of this place?" I suggested, and Rikku smiled, agreeing immediately. We needed something to pass the time, after all.

After exploring the large salvage ship, I found that I was very fond of Rikku. She was the only one who bothered to treat me like a human, even though she must have thought me somewhat odd because of my Zanarkand talk. She had an infectious personality and a contagious smile, and I couldn't tear my gaze from her eyes whenever I looked into them. She was so easy to talk to and though she was upbeat and cheery, she had a sense of maturity and clarity about her that I found alluring.

"So Rikku, is Brother really your brother?"

She giggled. We were sitting at the edge of the ship, our legs in between rails. "Yeah, he is. His real name is Aniki, but when I was little, I couldn't pronounce his name right, so I would just call him Brother. Now, it's caught on to almost everybody."

"Who else is in your family?"

Rikku's eyes darkened a bit, and she gazed down, ignoring the sunset. "Well, there's Brother, and dad is back at home. My mom, well, she died when I was little. Accident with the machina."

I felt guilty for bringing up the topic. "I'm sorry," I said genuinely. She looked over at me, that tiny smile on her face.

"Thanks, but you don't need to be. It was a long time ago, and I've long since moved on." I admired her strength.

I all of a sudden remembered how Rikku had hastily made sure to make me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone about Home's location. "Why can't I tell anybody about Bikanel Island, or your Home?"

She paused a moment, trying to find the right words. "Yevon is basically the government of Spira. If you don't believe in Yevon, you're a heathen, and an outcast. Yevon says that Sin comes because we are too indulgent, and that 1000 years ago, when Sin first came, it was because we used too many machina. Because we don't believe in Yevon, we are basically outcasts. Our first Home was destroyed by angry Yevonites, a long time ago. I'd never lived there, so it didn't upset me much. However, the Al Bhed were scattered across Spira, until Cid brought them all together. Now, we all stay at Bikanel, at the one Home, _our_ Home, hidden from the rest of the world."

I tried to take it all in quickly. I felt frustrated. Who could hate these people so much? No wonder Brother and the others were so aloof to me. They had every right to be! They probably thought I was just another Yevonite and Al Bhed hater because of my blue eyes, and that once I 'regained my memory' I would return to hating them. Well, that wasn't possible. At the moment, I hated the rest of the brainwashed people of Spira.

"It's weird…" I said after a long while, and she glanced at me. "Back in Zanarkand, we didn't have a religion." I laughed. "Our religion was blitzball."

"I think some of the Al Bhed feel the same way," she agreed.

"Where's the main stadium in Spira? I mean, it seems like Sin is attracted to large cities with lots of people, and I would imagine that wherever the stadium was would have both of those things."

Rikku nodded. "You're right. The stadium is in a city called Luca, and though lots of people live there and even more come for the blitz tournaments, it's heavily guarded by the Crusaders. They're the ones who defend Spira from Sin, as best they can. As far as I know, Luca has never been attacked.

"We'll be home in a few days," Rikku said, looking up at the sunset. She turned around and poked me, smirking. "I think you'll like it there."

"I know I'll like it."

Rikku looked at me inquisitively, that mischievous smile on her face, as always. "How?"

'Because you're there," my mind thought, but I opted for a bit safer of a response. "I've never felt so…content in my entire life. Because, yeah, I'm confused have the time here, but I'm learning, and I'm comfortable." Rikku smiled, obviously wanting to say something. "What?"

"You've only been here two days!" she teased.

"Still…" I murmured.

After a long pause, I decided to fill the silence with something I had been wondering about for a while. "Is Sin…really that bad?"

"Well, you say you saw it destroy your city. You tell me."

I considered her. "Yeah…I guess I just can't believe that it actually reduced the world to not even knowing what a watch is. I mean, in Zanarkand, there's technology for everything. There's technology for entertainment, security, factory working, chores…"

"You'll probably feel at home in Home, then." Rikku smiled thoughtfully at her odd sentence. "We're easily the most technologically advanced place in the world. We've got sliding doors, robots, weapons…machine for everything. I'm surprised Sin hasn't killed us a thousand times over."

I found myself regretting that the sun was already going down. I really enjoyed spending time with Rikku. I yawned and stood up. 'I think I'm going to bed. In Zanarkand, it's…" I checked my watch, "1 AM."

"You really are from Zanarkand, aren't you?" she asked, almost dreamily. I paused mid-step. Was she actually going to believe me? I nodded.

"I know nothing about this place," I admitted. "But I remember my whole life back there. I was born and raised in Zanarkand by my mom and dad. My old man was a star blitz player; everybody loved him, except me. He was such an arrogant jerk…" I trailed off, lost in thought. Rikku considered me, wondering what had caused the anger, but she didn't get a chance to ask before I continued. "He thought he was pretty hot stuff. He died when I was eight: fishing accident, out in the ocean. My mom died shortly after. My next door neighbor, an old, kind lady, basically took care of me. I threw myself into blitzball, and eventually became the star player for the Abes, following my old man's footsteps. I used to wonder if one of the only reasons I became star was because I was my father's son. But, I loved the sport, and I wouldn't give it up just because of _him_." I sat down again next to Rikku and grabbed each of her shoulders. "Surely you don't think I could have made all that up."

In her green swirls, I saw doubt, but I was also relieved to find a bit of understanding, as well as belief. She rested her hand on my one. "I believe you." When she saw the grateful look on my face, she also saw the underlying fatigue. "Now let's go to bed."

**A/N: Well, I hope you liked it. The chapter lengths may vary, so bear with me, and since it's the end of the year, updates might be a little rare, like once a month? But I'll try to make them long and worthwhile and it'll get better in June. Please R/R!**

**A/N 2 (Updated June 8, 2006): Well, I corrected some mistakes that I thought had been weeded out. Hope this is better suited to your reading pleasure! Toodles!**

**+Anael Marie**


	2. And the Thunder Rolls

**A/N: Goodness! This probably isn't a good start to a story. I can't believe my second chapter was so late in coming, and I'm very sorry. School is such a bother, and finals distracted me for weeks on end. I promise I won't neglect this story again, kay? I'll make sure to finish it this summer, whether it ends up being long or short. I have the plot in my mind already, but not the length. Either way, it will be a summer project, as it's my baby. )**

**Disclaimer: Still not owning any of these lovely characters.**

Eyes like Yours

2. And the Thunder Rolls

"Tidus!" I opened my eyes wearily, groaning as my muscles protested to waking up.

"What?" I yelled back.

"We're here!" Rikku laughed from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

She walked in and the first thing I noticed was the huge smile on her face. It was difficult to make Rikku look more optimistic than she normally was, so to see an even bigger grin than normal was unusual. Then, I noticed the clothes she was wearing. She was dressed in long red pants with a black tank top and orange gloves that went up to her elbows. Her hair was pulled into a sort of helmet and she had her red goggles on. "Umm, you look nice," I commented.

She giggled in response. "Oh, you're going to look simply spiffy too, don't worry." Somehow, just hearing her say that made me worry. "Today's going to be a big day!"

"Why?" I asked warily. "I mean, besides the obvious?"

"Well, you'll probably be meeting Cid," she said with a tiny frown at the corners of her mouth. "That means you're going to need these," she held out a pair of blue goggles, "these," she pointed to a pair of black boots at her feet," and finally, these."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why am I going to need a pair of scissors?"

"Not the scissors, silly. It's time to cut those gorgeous blonde spikes of yours!" she chirped mischievously.

"No," I said flatly. "No way." But, despite my protests, she was backing me into a corner.

"Oh, come on! I promise I'll make it look good! Don't be a wuss!" she teased.

"Don't get those things anywhere near me," I threatened.

"You're terrifying, really," she said, unimpressed. "Tidus, you have to do this."

"Why?" I demanded.

"Because, you know the Al Bhed don't like outsiders."

"They'll learn to like me!" I exclaimed proudly, but with a nervous edge. I was completely cornered by the Al Bhed girl.

"No, they won't," she pointed out. "Tidus, you have to understand. They won't ever accept you unless they think you're Al Bhed."

"But Brother and the others on the ship know I'm not Al Bhed, and they…well, they haven't stoned me yet." I smiled triumphantly.

"Please," Rikku said, completely serious. "They're different. They know the situation and they've had more…exposure, to the outside world. They understand that not everyone has bad intentions, but I mean, what about the families at Home? They don't know any better. They think that Spira is out to get them, and really, they're not far off."

I sighed. I was beginning to get the idea that I had to do this. How did such an innocent argument turn into such a depressing revelation? "Fine," I said at last, letting out the long moan of a troubled martyr. "I guess it's just hair, after all."

"Right!" Rikku echoed, clapping her hands together and winking. Rikku's mood bounced back and forth faster than anyone else I knew. I let out a defeated chuckle. "Now, let's see what I can do!"

After Rikku had managed to wash my hair and sit me down on a closed toilet seat in the bathroom, I managed to drift off to the sound of the scissors doing their work. I should have been more nervous than I was, but I suppose I'd already accepted my fate.

Or, had I? It was still hard to imagine that I was one thousand years in the future in a completely different world than the one I knew. Things like that just didn't happen, and yet it did. Would I ever return to Zanarkand? However, despite my slight homesickness, I didn't miss it all that much. Maybe I'd needed a change, anyway. After my mom died, life there wasn't very great. Blitzball rocked, but that was about it. Besides, the guys on my team were idiots.

I groaned as Rikku pressed her fingers and palms against the back of my head. She snickered.

"You're awfully relaxed for somebody who acted like his world would collapse if somebody so much as touched his hair," she teased.

"Hey," I whined. "I did not."

"Okay," she said in a sing-song, obviously unconvinced voice. "All done!" She ran her hands through my hair, and then hummed to herself. She pulled out a pot of gel from the counter behind her next to the sink. I couldn't tell how much she put in my hair, but it felt kinda cool. I'd never used gel before. "Okay, now I'm officially all done!"

After Rikku left, forbidding me to look in the mirror until I'd put on the full Al Bhed attire, I grabbed said clothes off the bed. When I was done pulling them on (which was actually quite a feat to accomplish, what with all those buckles), I looked in the mirror. "Wow," I murmured.

I heard the door open and Rikku stepped in, walking up behind me. "You look fantastic!" she exclaimed, resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Why the new clothes?" I asked curiously. "Did Brother need the other ones back?"

"Well, I noticed they were a little small on you, so I thought I'd do you a favor and lend you some from one of my friends until we manage to get more." I nodded, silently giving her my thanks.

I looked so completely different that I could hardly even recognize myself. My hair had been more changed style wise, rather than actually cut. It now spiked itself over so that some of it fell just above my eyes, and the rest of it was shorter in the back. At the moment, I had the goggles around my neck, but other than that I was completely decked out in Al Bhed clothing. I had on a tank top hoodie which zipped up on both sides of my chest and tied in the center, with another plain blue shirt underneath. The gloves I wore came up to my elbows. I was also wearing baggy pants that were pulled into high boots. I then noticed the little symbol on the clasp that attached the ties to the hoodie.

"Where'd you get this?" I asked, grasping the clasp. The symbol was the same as the silver chain necklace that I wore (which I'd managed to slip underneath the clothes I was wearing now).

Rikku shrugged. "It was one of the first things I noticed about you, and I figured you liked it, so I painted it on."

"Thanks," I murmured. "Man, this is so different…but pretty cool. Again, thanks Rikku."

"No problem! Now you'll fit right in." She winked at me and then grabbed my hand. "We should probably go up now. Brother said we don't need to help with the airship; the other guys will handle it. He's lending us the hover bikes so that we can get there quickly and-"

"Hover bikes?" I asked, biting my lip. "Ummm…"

"You'll be fine," she assured, and together we headed out.

It turned out that I didn't do very fine at all. After a particularly nasty fall in what I discovered to be a land covered in desert with absolutely no water to speak of, I was about to give up. However, I wasn't about to tell Rikku that, as she was currently laughing her heart out at me while leaning against the handle bars of her bike.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh…" but she couldn't seem to finish her sentence and broke off into peals of giggles as I spit out sand from my mouth. I stood up and took a deep breath to relax myself. "Here, I'll let you in on a secret. See this button?" She pointed to a bright red button to the left side of the bars. "It's auto drive. All you gotta do is steer."

"Auto drive…" I panted. "Well, thanks Rikku."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I just…forgot. I've never used auto drive before, and I thought that-"

"I wouldn't be such a klutz?" I offered, grinning good-naturedly. Really, I'd never felt more like a wuss. Having played for the Abes so long, I guess I'd gotten just a little too cocky. But, Rikku was showing me up at almost everything, and though my pride was being beaten and stomped on, I was pretty impressed.

"You…_can_ steer, can't you?" she asked carefully, biting her lip to keep from laughing. I mock glared at her.

"Yeah. Shocking, I know."

So, after the red button was pressed, we continued on, the sand swirling around our ankles and the sun high in the sky above us.

Home turned out to look like a massive prison. The central part was in the shape of a giant cylinder, with several taller towers surrounding it. There were skyways connecting the towers to the central part. Everything was painted a light brown so that it would blend in with the surrounding desert.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I don't know what I'd been expecting, but a prison was certainly not what I'd been waiting for. I'd been anxious for a warm shower, a soft bed and well…a place that seemed like home? I mean, "Home" was even the name of the place!

"Ah, Home sweet Home!" Rikku sighed in relief, stretching her arms out behind her head while her bike was still on coast.

We rode up to what appeared to be the main entrance. . There were two huge, glass double doors and what appeared to be a large, almost hidden door to the left. I figured it probably led underground, and guessed that we would be depositing our bikes down there. Rikku got off her bike and walked up to the right side of the doors. She pressed a hidden button (also sand colored), and a bit of the wall pulled out and lifted up, revealing a camera and a keyboard. She looked closely into the camera and it flashed green in her right eye. She then typed a few words into the keyboard and closed it all back up. The door to the left of the glass double doors opened with a steady buzzing hum. She turned to face my confused expression.

"Retina scan," she explained. "Anybody who doesn't have our eyes automatically can't get in. And, even then, all of us Al Bhed still have our own individual eyes. The scan is one of our highest security precautions."

"That's pretty sweet," I commented, getting off my bike and inspecting the area that now contained the hidden scanner. "So, let me get this straight. You have sliding doors, hover bikes, and retina scans, but you don't even have watches?" I asked with amusement.

I saw Rikku blush a little, just a little, before she put on a tiny pout and placed her hands on her hips defiantly. "It's not my fault! All the things we have here at Home were things discovered from the past. We use the new technology that we find like blueprints in order to recreate the now irreparable objects."

"Makes sense, I guess," I said, nodding appreciatively. "Well, shall we go put these lovely things away?" I asked, motioning towards the bikes. She laughed and nodded. We left through the open sliding door, which automatically closed behind us, and headed down the long ramp to put away our transportation.

I quickly discovered that Home was a lot nicer on the inside than the outside, proving my mother's saying "Don't judge a book by its cover."

Rikku had given me an extensive tour of the place. Al Bhed people had been gazing at me curiously the whole time, and I had continuously, almost obsessively, adjusted my goggles to make sure they were covering my blue, non-spiraled eyes.

"This main central part is kind of like…" Rikku paused, looking for a good example. "The lobby of an inn, I suppose." I looked around me. There were different rooms and dividers, but I could still sense the circular shape of the structure. "At least, this bottom floor is." There were stairs that circled up and around the building, always attached to the walls. There were also three elevators on the far side of the building from the main entrance. The main desk was to the far right. There was a large sign in the center, and I saw that it was a map of home. "That," she said, pointing to it, "is for newcomers, like you. So, if you can't find me and you need to get somewhere, come here and check, kay?" I nodded.

"The central building has research and some labs on the second floor, communications on the third floor, the infirmary on the fourth floor, an extensive library on the fifth floor, conference rooms on the sixth, and finally, Cid's living quarters on the seventh."

"Wow," I muttered.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I guess when you live here, you kinda forget how huge Home is, ya know?"

"Where _do_ you guys live?" I asked. "In the basement?" I kidded.

"No, silly," she scolded laughingly. "The basement has different levels though, too. You only saw the top one. It's where we keep hover crafts and bikes. The lower levels are where we keep the bigger things, like for example, that's where we'll be putting the airship."

I waited patiently for her to continue. I really did want to know where everyone lived. Surely there weren't nearly enough Al Bhed to fill up all those towers…

I was soon proven wrong. "And all the rest of us live in the towers!" she chirped. My eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Seriously, _all_ those towers?" I asked in awe.

"Well, this is the only place on Spira where Al Bhed live, at least, for the most part…" she pointed out. "Although, I suppose Rin's a bit of an exception…"

"Rin?"

"There are travel agencies all over Spira that he owns, and he travels between all of them. He's the only Al Bhed that's respected by Yevonites, I think, because he provides them shelter on their pilgrimages."

"That's insane. He's the only one?"

She sighed. "Again, for the most part. And yeah, it is insane."

After that, things got a little quiet. We were both tired and hungry, and I was anxious to become very well acquainted with my new bed. "I'll show you to your room," she said, and we headed up a few flights of stairs. I tried not to look over the rail once we'd gone up a ways. We eventually came to the next floor, which was indeed research. Once we'd gotten to the third floor, we came upon a door that led to an outer part of the building, which turned out to be sort of like a deck with several skyways attached.

"I know for a fact that the room next to me happens to be empty, because originally I'd asked for it to be that way. I'm at the very top, so there's only one room next to me."

"Why'd you want it empty?"

"Because the Al Bhed have a tendency to be noisy," she admitted sheepishly. "And I'm no exception, but once I manage to get myself into bed, I like to fall asleep right away. Hence, empty room."

I nodded in understanding. "So, that's where I'll be staying?"

She looked at me and punched my shoulder lightly. "If you can keep yourself quiet at night!" she laughed teasingly.

"Sure I can."

"Your snoring would prove otherwise," she replied cheekily.

"I don't snore!" I replied, aghast. She just smiled and continued on.

After seeing my room and deeming the bed perfect, I informed Rikku that I needed to sleep so badly it was ridiculous. So, she left and I laid down, not caring that I was probably getting sand on the bed. I wondered how Rikku could run around all day and not be tired. I always thought that I'd been in excellent shape and could go on forever, but now I was realizing just how lazy I had been in Zanarkand. If it wasn't for blitzball, everyone would have thought I was a bum. I chuckled for a moment and fell asleep shortly after.

I got up later that day, and after looking through the window, I realized that it must be pretty late, as the sun was almost completely down. I could see lightning off in the distance, but there was no rain or thunder yet. I smiled. I'd always loved storms, and it looked like one was fast approaching.

I decided to explore my room. It had a window in the front, a bed on the right wall, dressers on the left wall, and a small table in the center. The walls were painted blue, and I found that I liked it. There was a connecting bathroom next to my bed, and I stepped through the door. It had all the necessary requirements to make it a full bath, and I was content.

Then, with a faint grumbling of my stomach, I noticed that I had yet to learn where to get food. Suddenly starving, I sought off in desperate need of nourishment. I found a letter that had been shoved under the front door and grabbed it. Inside was a note from Rikku. _"I forgot to give you your key! Don't forget to lock up when you leave."_ The key was actually a card that I slipped through the slot outside the door and turned on a red light, signaling that the door was locked. I went to go knock on Rikku's door, but she didn't answer.

Now nervous and not wanting to encounter any other Al Bhed, I carefully got into the elevator at the end of the circular hallway, deciding not to take the stairs. Unknowing of what was on the bottom level of the tower, I decided to venture down there and pressed the "Level 1" button, patiently waiting during the descent.

As soon as the elevator doors slid open, I could smell the food. A small smile crept onto my face despite my anxiety. Maybe I could just get a little bit of food with minimal interaction or better yet, none at all. Where was Rikku, anyway? I crept down the circular hallways and peered into a large room in the center of it all. Yep, it was definitely the source of the delicious smell. However, as I looked in, I saw the room was filled with Al Bhed. There were old ladies and little girls, young men and babies alike. It was too much for me and I left, feeling disappointed and stomach aching from hunger.

Not even paying attention to what I was doing, I continued along the hallway until I got to a glass door. It led outside, and I walked through, not expecting the door to lock behind me. Five minutes later, after I'd had my breath of fresh air; I realized this and then proceeded to sulk. Now, I was stuck outside while a storm approached with an empty stomach.

I refused to panic. If nothing else, Rikku would eventually find me. Too bad the keys weren't made for the doors leading outside. They could too easily fall into the wrong hands. I mean, who could imagine someone stealing an eyeball to get into Home? I grimaced at the mental image and slid to the ground, leaning against the sandy wall. It even felt like sand against my back. I desperately wanted to get back in.

Just when the thought went through my head that this wasn't so bad and that I would love to see the stars out here on a night that wasn't cloudy, it started to rain. I sighed and lowered my head. I saw lightning flash overhead and my head snapped back up to watch it. It was then that I noticed a figure on one of the skyways. Could it be? No way…

I jumped up and ran out far into the sand, yelling Rikku's name in an attempt to get her attention through the thick glass. She continued on unknowingly, and seemed to be rushing to her room, I noticed anxiously. I looked around frantically for a rock, finally spotted one, and launched it up as far as I could towards the skyway. It just touched the bottom, with not enough force to distract her. It was a loud roll of the thunder that eventually caught her attention and caused her to jump and look outside, conveniently in my general direction, and she peered curiously down at me, despite the obvious fear on her face.

"Tidus?" she mouthed. I could feel her starting to giggle nervously before I actually saw it. She immediately ran and came down to meet me outside, but not before it literally began to downpour. It was just my luck: a storm in the desert on my first day on Bikanel Island. I actually started to chuckle at the irony when Rikku ran towards me.

"I'm not even going to ask," she said, shaking her head. "How you get yourself into these situations, I have no idea. First, I find you cold, wet and hungry in front of the weakest fire I've ever seen, then you're falling into sand off of hover bikes, and finally you're stuck out in the first rain that Bikanel's had since I was born. Fate must hate you," she joked in a would-be amused voice, but was actually laced with terror.

"Yeah yeah, just get me inside," I retorted, happy to be in her presence despite my bitter tone.

"Well, if you're going to be so gentlemanly about it," she said, scoffing, and jumping about a mile into the air when lightning flashed and thunder quickly followed.

I looked at her in concern, but then immediately lowered my head and lifted her hand, placing a kiss on it and gazing up at her. I stood up and held out an arm for her. "May I please escort the fine lady inside?" I asked, lowering my voice a bit and adding a selfless, rich tone, just for dramatic purposes.

She outright laughed, but placed her hand on my arm nonetheless. "You may," she countered just as formally. "My, how the roles have changed." She looked like she was going to say something else, but then another clap of thunder silenced her.

I couldn't help smiling, completely content and feeling at Home as I gazed down at the feisty Al Bhed girl to my left.

Rikku not only had saved me from my cold, wet fate in the stormy darkness outside, she also managed to get me a hot meal, which I couldn't have been more grateful for. After we went up to our rooms and changed into some dry clothes, I joined her in her room to finally eat the previously mentioned dinner.

"Oh wow!"

Her room was completely unlike mine. Her walls were painted a light yellow and had a few odd posters of framed blueprints here and there, which she'd managed to make a little more exciting than traditional blueprints. I approached one and noticed that it was a blueprint of an airship. There were machina parts all over the floor, as well as various screws and other odds and ends. Her bed was small, with a cream colored canopy hanging over it. I also noticed that she had a huge skylight. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye and she smiled.

"I welcome you to my humble abode," she said, gesturing around the room. "Make yourself comfortable."

In the end, we pulled up a table next to the bed, which she sat cross-legged on, while I pulled up the only chair in the room and sat opposite her, eating our dinners.

"Well, I guess you're not going to meet Cid today, after all, seeing as how it's already almost midnight," she commented thoughtfully, nibbling on a piece of chicken.

"Do you…think he'll let me stay here?" I asked haltingly. She hummed for a moment.

"Well…he's not going to be crazy about the idea." She snickered for a moment. "I'm not even going to try talking to him about the Zanarkand thing. No offense, I'm still not even sure that _I_ believe it or not."

Trying not to feel offended or betrayed by her last statement, I continued. "Well, what do you propose?"

She bit her lip in thought. "I'll just tell him that you're one of the very few Al Bhed who grew up with the Yevonites. I'll say that Brother met you through blitzball, and that you'd wanted to come here, sick of…discrimination?"

"Why can't you just tell him that I'm your friend?" I asked. "No offense to Brother or anything, but I don't think he's going to be too keen on helping me out."

She waved the thought away. "He won't have a choice. If Cid finds out that you're not Al Bhed but that you've already stayed here for a while, Brother's butt will be on the line, too. Besides, I don't leave Home enough for the story to be believable. I don't even play blitzball."

My jaw dropped at this revelation, despite the semi-serious discussion at hand. "You've never played blitzball?" I asked, incredulous. She shook her head, picking up a strawberry.

"Nope. I never learned how to swim." She looked almost embarrassed.

"Why not?" I asked curiously. I couldn't imagine my life without blitzball. "I'll have to teach you," I added as an afterthought. "But, what could cause you to never learn the art of swimming?"

She smirked. "Well, you have to promise you won't laugh," she warned. I nodded. "When I was little, Brother, his friends and I had gone out to the ocean, just to have some fun…" she paused, biting her lip. "Then, a water fiend, I don't remember which one, just came out of nowhere and started attacking me!" She closed her eyes. "Brother tried to kill it by using thunder magic, but he missed and accidentally hit me instead!" she finished tragically.

"Ouch," I murmured. "So, that's why you were so jumpy when we were outside earlier?"

"Yeah. Ever since then, I've been terrified of storms."

"I love storms," I said. She glared at me.

"Good for you, but I'm just fine locking myself in my room during them."

I laughed, and she finally let out a small smile. She'd been jumpy, actually, ever since we came inside, as the storm still hadn't subsided. I yawned. "I think I'm going to go to bed," I said, stretching my arms above my head.

"Do you have to?" she asked quickly, and I gave her a confused glance. "I mean, yeah, of course," she said, looking away.

"What's up?"

She sighed and looked up at me, her chipper mood put into place. "It's nothing, go to sleep."

"You sure?"

"Yep! Sleep tight!"

"G'night." And with that, I left.

**A/N: Well, hope it was worth the wait. This chapter was actually going to be about twice as long as it actually turned out to be, so I chopped it in half, figuring this was a decent ending. ) Will update within the next week. R/R! (All the cool kids are doing it sneaky wink)**

**+Anael Marie**


	3. Here's to the Night

Eyes Like Yours

3. Here's to the Night

When the sun shining through the windows woke me up, thoughts of blitzball immediately filled my head. I missed the sport a lot, and being surrounded by desert made me ache for the water. While normally I would have been a bit groggy while running on so little sleep, today I took a shower quickly, changed, and was out of my room in less than fifteen minutes from waking up.

"Rikku!" I urged, knocking on the Al Bhed girl's door. There was no response. "Rikku!" I said again, a little louder.

"Whaddya want?" I heard her irritable voice on the other side of the door demand. I had to stifle a grin. I'd never heard Rikku tired before, ever.

"Wanna go play blitzball?" I asked. There was a long silence and I was just beginning to wonder if she'd fallen asleep again when the door opened and there stood a weary looking Rikku. From what I could see in the small-ish opening of the door, her hair was all let down for the first time since I'd known her, and all she was wearing was a big t-shirt and a pair of shorts underneath…maybe. I tried to ignore this fact and focus on her mood and my goal. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, noticing the slight bags under her eyes.

She nodded. "It was just that stupid storm. Kept me up. Now, what's this babbling about blitzball?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to play or not," I replied, losing hope. She didn't seem crazy about the idea.

"I can't swim, remember?"

"But…yeah you can!" I pointed out triumphantly. She looked at me, confused. "Yeah, when we first met! We had to go underwater for the airship, and you swam!"

"Yeah, but I had swimming gear on," she corrected me. I frowned.

"Well, you know I can always just teach you how to swim without the gear," I mentioned. She smiled.

"You sure you wanna spend all that time teaching me?" she asked, and I beamed at her. I could already feel her agreeing.

"Sure!" I said enthusiastically. She grinned and crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe.

"Alright, but you realize that we're going to have to use the bikes to get to the ocean, right?" she asked. "We don't have any practice areas here."

No, I hadn't realized that, and it definitely dampened my mood a bit. But, I considered the pros and cons and figured that the joys of blitzball outweighed the sad fact of having to use the bikes. "That's alright."

"Kay, I'll meet you out here in a few minutes!" Rikku chirped and disappeared inside her room. I waited out in the hall, leaning against the wall and letting my legs stretch out before me before sliding to the floor. I wondered if I would ever be able to play blitzball professionally again. It seemed so far-fetched to me that I could ever play for the Al Bhed team, because it also seemed bizarre to me that I would ever understand their language. Although, I supposed that once I started practicing again, I could maybe snag a spot on a team.

As I was biting my lip in contemplation, Rikku stepped out of her room, a large red bag slung over her shoulder.

"What's that for?" I asked, gesturing towards the bag.

"Just a few things I decided to bring along," she replied vaguely, but I shrugged it off, figuring it was probably something personal. "Well, guess we should go then."

"Uh, wait. Don't we need a blitzball?" I asked, feeling stupid for not thinking of it sooner.

"Oh, right! Yeah, let's go ask Brother," Rikku suggested, then gave me a mischievous wink. "…your first involvement in an Al Bhed conversation at Home."

I gave her a nervous chuckle. "No problem."

We used the elevator to go down to the skyway and then took the stairs down to the second floor, which I remembered to be the research and labs floor. Feeling slightly proud of myself for remembering this, I was a bit distracted when Rikku led us up to a tall Al Bhed guy who appeared to be around our age.

"Keyakku!" she greeted cheerily. He turned and smiled when he saw her. I changed my mind, deciding he was a few years older, probably in his twenties. He had light blonde hair that was in a crew cut and wore a green vest with a black shirt underneath and tan pants. I tried to memorize what he looked like, as he appeared to be a friend of Rikku's, but I couldn't help distinctly noticing how friendly she was with him and how she launched herself into his arms in a huge hug.

"Rammu, Rikku," he said, chuckling and gently putting her down. When he looked up and saw me he gave me a small nod. I nodded back, not knowing any Al Bhed to greet him with. "Fryd'c ib?"

_Hello, Rikku. What's up?_

"Ryja oui caah Pnudran ynuiht? Un, paddan oad, tu oui zicd ghuf frana y pmedwpymm ec dryd fa lyh punnuf vun dutyo?" she asked.

_Have you seen Brother around? Or, better yet, do you just know where a blitzball is that we can borrow for today?_

"Fru'c 'fa'?" he immediately replied, pointedly looking in my direction. Rikku's eyes widened.

_Who's 'we'?_

"Ur, E vunkud du ehdnutila oui dfu! Keyakku, drec ec Tidus. Tidus, Keyakku," she said with a flourish near the end, stepping away so that we could shake hands. I resisted the urge to shift nervously from foot to foot as Keyakku gazed at me calculatingly and finally gave me a smile. He held out his hand and I immediately knew what was expected, so I firmly clasped my hand in his, shaking it.

_Oh, I forgot to introduce you two! Keyakku, this is Tidus. Tidus, Keyakku._

"Bmaycat du saad oui," Keyakku said to me, and I nodded, desperately wishing I knew some Al Bhed, as I knew that my silence was probably getting to the point of being rude.

_Pleased to meet you._

Thank goodness for Rikku. "Ra'c dra cdnuhk, cemahd doba, oui caa," Rikku laughed, punching me lightly on the shoulder, and I joined in their laughter, somehow suspecting that she'd made fun of me in some way. Oh well, it broke the ice.

_He's the strong, silent type, you see._

"Yhofyoc, tu oui ryja y pmedwpymm fa luimt punnuf?" said Rikku. When Keyakku let out a huge sigh, she pouted and her eyes widened to unbelievable proportions. "Bmayca Keyakku! E bnuseca E fuh'd muca ed ykyeh! Bnaddo bnaddo bmayca?"

_Anyways, do you have a blitzball we could borrow? Please, Keyakku! I promise I won't lose it again! Pretty pretty please?_

Apparently, Rikku's begging wore down the poor guy and he gave up. "Oayr, ugyo, pid lyh oui nadinh ed duhekrd?"

_Yeah, okay, but can you return it tonight?_

Rikku nodded sagely. "Uv luinca."

_Of course._

"Bnuseca?" he asked.

_Promise?_

"Bnuseca," she replied, completely and utterly serious. I was able to guess what they were talking about, especially from Rikku's out of character speech and expressions.

_Promise._

"E'mm nih du so nuus naymmo xielg yht ku knyp ed. Fyed rana," said Keyakku, and then he disappeared up the stairs.

_I'll run to my room really quick and go grab it. Wait here._

Rikku quickly led me to a small balcony outside the floor and we leaned against the railings out there, gazing out at the sand. "So, did you understand any of that, at least from our expressions and gestures?" Rikku asked.

I thought about it. "Yeah, I suppose I had an idea. I could tell when you were begging him," I teased. Rikku blushed faintly and whacked me softly on the shoulder again.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. "Anything else?"

"I heard the word 'oui,' in there a couple times. That means 'you,' right?" I asked hopefully. She beamed.

"Yeah! See? You're learning already!"

I smiled at the praise. "How long do you think it'll take me to become fluent?" I asked curiously. "I'm not crazy about standing on the outside, completely mute, while I get made fun of," I said pointedly, but jokingly.

"Hey, it's not like I could say you're new to the language or anything," Rikku defended. "Then you'd still be expected to at least say **something**, and that would raise suspicion of you."

"Touché," I agreed. "So, you guys friends?" I asked casually.

"Yeah, he's Brother's best friend and one of my closest friends, too."

"Hmm. Yo!" I called, seeing Keyakku inside through the window doors, holding a blitzball. Rikku quickly shushed me.

"That's not Al Bhed, remember?" she hissed. I scratched my head sheepishly.

"Oh…yeah."

"Rana ed ec. E'mm caa oui mydan Rikku, Tidus," Keyakku said as he joined us on the balcony. He handed Rikku the blitzball, gave me one last nod, and went back in.

_Here it is. I'll see you later Rikku, Tidus._

Rikku pulled the bag slinging on her shoulder off and dropped the ball in. Once again, I wondered what could possibly be in there, but kept quiet. When she glanced back up, she must have caught my raised eyebrow, and grinned.

"Let's go!"

XXX

By the time we arrived at the beach, I was exhausted. The ride had gone much more smoothly than the first time I'd ridden on the hover bikes, but the humidity was up and I had only one water bottle, which quickly ran out. My mouth now felt completely dry and I could feel my hair growing limp with the sweltering weather. I was anxious to get in the water.

I checked my watch and saw that it was almost one in afternoon. I grinned at the large amount of time that that gave us and turned to Rikku, jumping off my bike. I bit my lip for a moment as I saw that she'd already gotten off her bike and was currently pulling her clothes off. I believe my heart started beating again when I saw the swimsuit underneath, but when she glanced up at me she giggled for a moment, I guessed that the dumbstruck look had yet to fade off my face.

She was wearing a tiny yellow bikini, and she still wore her orange and pink beaded necklace. I noticed that she had a tiny, golden chain around her left ankle, and then she turned around to grab something out of her bag. I saw a scar on the lower part of her back, stretching almost half way across from her right side to her spine. Mentally noting the strange scar and deciding to ask her about it later, I began stripping down to my shorts while Rikku was messing with the bag and stepped a little closer to the sandy shore, stretching my arms out above me to release any last bit of tension I had kept from the night before or the bike ride.

"Hey Rikku, wanna throw me the blitzball?" I shouted to grab her attention, and she turned to me distractedly. The ball in question was at her feet, obviously pulled out in her attempt to locate whatever she was looking for in the bag. I noticed with just a bit of self-consciousness that she didn't even seem slightly affected by my clothing change. I mentally shrugged, trying not to dwell on it.

"Sure! Catch!" She tossed the ball over and I jumped to grab it. I waded further out and when the water was about to my neck, I let myself fall backwards.

It felt so good to be immersed in the wet depths of the oceans. It was the only place in Spira where I truly felt like I belonged, at least so far. I twisted and flipped through the water, my muscles relaxing, before finally deciding to surface to figure out what was taking Rikku so long.

"Yo, Rikku!" I called, taking in some air and wading in place. "You coming?"

She turned around to face me, and despite the distance between us, I could see a brief flicker of nervousness on her face. She held up a hair tie as an excuse, smiling sheepishly, but I didn't buy it. "Sorry, just didn't want this in my face the whole time!" she called, gesturing to her hair. I smiled to humor her. I could see why she might be a little nervous. This was probably her first time swimming, at least in a long time, without her wetsuit and oxygen tank on. I had to give her credit for that.

After she'd pulled her hair back, she stepped towards the water with confident strides, but hesitated for a moment at the edge.

"Come on in, unless you're a wuss!" I shouted, trying to loosen her up. It worked. She headed towards me and when the water was at her neck, with an innocent grin, she splashed a face full of water on me.

"Hey!" I protested, sputtering and spitting the water out of my mouth. She laughed and smirked impishly, I noticed, once I got my wet hair out of my eyes. "Now what was that for?"

"An experiment," she explained.

"Oh really? What experiment would that be?"

"Well," she said, "I wanted to see if it was possible to mess up Tidus's perfect hair. Hair even more perfect than a model," she teased. Immediately sensing that I'd been mocked, I splashed water back on her hair, which had been pulled into a messy bun.

"I hardly think that that was justified!" she pouted, with a slight tilt upwards at the corners of her lips.

"You're right, I can't mess up your hair much more than it already was anyway," I retorted, and saw her narrow her eyes. That was the only warning I got before I was tackled with surprising strength, lost grip of the blitzball, and fell backwards, yet again, into the water.

Rikku, while distracted, was a perfectly fine swimmer. She just needed to get acclimated without all of the gear that she normally had. This theory was proven when she managed to stay underwater for over a minute, chasing me through the depths with skill. I hadn't noticed that she'd found the blitzball, and while I thought I'd finally found freedom, I felt it hit me square in the back. I turned around, my surprised grin meeting her triumphant smirk.

I saw an immediate change. Once she was stationary, she panicked for a moment, and immediately went up to the surface. When I followed suit, I heard her gasping for breath.

"You okay?" I asked, swimming towards her. She flipped some of the loose strands of hair out of her face and looked at me a little helplessly.

"Never better," she replied, wading in place.

"Hey, you did great!" I encouraged. "It's like you've been in water your entire life!" She gave me a look that clearly questioned my intelligence. "You know what I mean: without the gear and everything."

"Thanks."

"Okay, I don't think it's necessary to teach you to swim. You really just need to get used to the feel and you'll be fine," I rambled out loud, trying to think of where to start off. "Okay, let's see how long you can hold your breath underwater when you aren't moving," I suggested. I swam closer and put one arm underneath her legs and one behind her back, so that she was basically lying just below the water, her head high enough for her to breath. I realized a second too late that this really hadn't been necessary, especially when she gave me a surprised look, but whatever.

"Just…lean back and put your head in the water and I'll count how long you can hold your breath, alright?" She nodded, relaxing in my arms, and I felt an irresistible smile pull at my lips. She leaned back and I began counting. I counted up to three minutes and twenty-seven seconds before she came back up.

"Did I do alright?" she asked breathlessly. I nodded.

"Blitzers need to stay in the water for at least five minutes, and that's with physical activity," I explained, and she nodded. "There's the first half of the game that's five minutes long, and then halftime. We go back out for another five minutes and whoever's gotten the most goals wins. But, you'll need to be able to hold your breath for a bit longer than five minutes, because sometimes the games can go into overtime."

"How long can overtime last?"

"Normally no less than a minute, but there's always those freak games where the defense is so high that nobody can score a goal," I laughed. "One time, in Zanarkand, overtime lasted I think it was…six minutes? After the five minutes, we were allowed another halftime, though."

"So there's hope for me?" Rikku asked, smirking. I shook my head, and her grin fell.

"More than just hope. You're breathing needs to be worked on, but you're skilled in the water. You just need practice, and you'll be great!"

"I always did want to learn to blitz," she said, and I became aware of the fact that she was still in my arms. I did nothing to change this fact while she appeared to remain content. "Brother had always loved the sport, same as Keyakku, even though they aren't on the team."

"Then how come you never played with them?" I asked curiously.

She shrugged, her tanned shoulders dipping into the water and her bangs dripping. "I love them and everything, but I guess I just never got around to it, and I'm still just the younger sister." She looked down and raised a hand to shield her face from the sun's rays. "And," she confessed, "I never had that many friends at home. I was always that weird girl who was trying to inspire decent relations between the Al Bhed and the Yevonites."

"Wouldn't the Al Bhed want that, though?"

She shook her head. "I guess they…well, _we_, have all grown a little more cynical over time."

I cocked an eyebrow at that and let out an unconvinced snort. "Somehow, I can't imagine you cynical."

"It gets frustrating sometimes," she confided, moving to get out of my arms. I was confused and wanted to talk with her more about this, because it was obviously a topic that was important to her. But, I understood she didn't want to talk when she held up the blitzball and grinned. "What next?"

I shook my head and smiled, playing along. "Catching." Her head tilted to the side, urging me to continue. "I just want to see how far you can throw, how you catch, things like that. We should be able to make some good progress, because you can hold your breath much longer than I'd expected."

"Well, I'm game!" Rikku chirped, took a deep breath, and plunged into the cool water. I joined her soon afterwards and swam about ten feet away. I motioned to her with my hand to stay where she was while and then motioned for her to throw it. I caught the ball with ease and noted that the direction was a little off, but for the most part good.

Rikku also caught the ball when I threw it to her and primped in the water for a moment, her hair floating around her head and a smug smile on her face. Had I been above water, I would've chuckled at her antics, but then she threw it back to me and the lessons continued.

When we finally surfaced for air, Rikku was full of herself. "Hah! I knew I'd be good at this!" she exclaimed.

"Says Miss Hesitant," I quipped, ducking into the water to avoid the splash that came my way. I came back up and stuck out my tongue. I laid on my back, arms behind my head as a makeshift pillow, and floated, relaxed. Then, my stomach gave a large grumble and I sat back up, easily keeping myself up by wading, smiling sheepishly when Rikku gave me an impish smile.

"Hungry?" she asked. I nodded guiltily. "No problem! I put some water and snacks in my bag," she said, and I could have kissed her in that moment, I was so hungry and thirsty. I didn't, and instead I gave her a huge hug, lifting her in the air and twirling her around when we reached the shore. "Hey, put me down!" she giggled, pushed at my shoulders, and I did.

While she wrung the water out of her hair with her hands, I helped myself to a bottle of water and a bag of chips, satisfied for the moment. "-ey Rikoo?" I called, turning to look at her. She gave me a questioning look while pulling on her shorts, her hair suitably dried, and then burst into laughter when she saw me.

"Talking while eating is always so attractive, Tidus," she teased, pulling her orange shirt over the top of her head. I smiled sheepishly. "Anyways, what's up?"

"You want me to explain the rules of blitzball?"

"I think I already get those, for the most part," she said, her brow furrowing. "Whoever gets the most goals wins. You can pass, but need to be careful that you're not too far away before somebody else gets a hold on the ball. Dirty play is, for the most part, acceptable," she said with a bit of a mischievous flourish at the end, and I gave her a wary look.

"Try not to seem too thrilled about that," I warned, a grin tilting up my lips and giving me away.

"You don't need to worry about me!" she chirped innocently. "I'd never dream of lowering myself to that level…" she said, trailing off and humming while looking at the sky. I grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to me while she giggled.

"Hey! You're telling ME off about dirty play?" she asked incredulously when she landed on the sand. "You got sand in my shorts!" she moaned tragically.

"Consolation prize?" I suggested, handing her a handful of chips. She pouted, but then her stomach growled…loudly. Her pout deepened.

"Oh, fine, you win," she conceded, grabbing the chips and taking a large sip of my water.

We sat talking there for a while, not even noticing the sun beginning to go down. When I looked back on this moment, I could always recall how the sun glinted off of the different shades of blonde in her surprisingly long hair, or how her eyes sparkled in the light. It felt as though we were in our own world, oblivious to the fact that anyone or anything else existed. It was quiet and the waves would lap at our feet with a gentle, soothing sound as we laughed, chatted, stayed silent.

You would never guess that Rikku was a person who you could have a comfortable silence with, but that evening I did. We could just watch the sun as it made its slow descent, careless and content and not needing words to fill the sweet atmosphere.

We fell asleep like that, too, curled up in the sand, uncaring of the tiny golden grains getting into our clothes or our cool, wet feet in the water.

XXX

Three hours later (I'd checked my watch), the sun had almost completely set, I was starving, getting a little chilly, and I could barely see a thing, having just woken up. I couldn't quite tell what I was feeling; probably a mixture of frustration, irritation, and hilarity. Rikku and I had been so distracted earlier that we'd forgotten about the long ride back to Home.

_Great_.

I couldn't wake her though, to relate to her our current situation. One glance and I could see that she was in a deep, contented sleep, sleeping on her stomach with her head lying on top of her makeshift pillow of her two arms. I vaguely thought to myself that when she woke up, her neck would kill her.

I bit my lip, wondering if she would sleep all night. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again in this foreign place without the (conscious) presence of Rikku and the lazy stupor of the setting sun. Resisting the urge to whine into the empty, dark night, I sat up and rested my head on my knees, bringing my arms around my legs.

It was then that I noticed some blurry lights out in the distance, floating on top of the water. I leaned closer, squinting, immediately worried and thinking that perhaps Rikku and I should get out of there. I had no idea who these people were or if they were harmful, and from the many lights that I could see, it was a fairly large ship.

Finally, deciding I should wake Rikku but feeling guilty about it all the same, I gently shook her arm and whispered in her ear. "Rikku…"

She grunted and rolled over onto her side, facing away from me. I tried again. "Rikku." I saw a twitch of her nose. "Rikku!"

"Wha!" she shouted, her fist coming up and smacking me straight in the nose. I saw stars for a few moments as she apologized profusely and I clutched at my nose, giving her the most evil glare I could, given my current non-threatening stance. Finally, she gave into the giggles she'd obviously been suppressing. "I'm sorry! What was it, Tidus?"

I pointed at the light that already seemed further away, fading into the night. She looked surprised, having not noticed them in her fatigue. She laughed and started brushing the sand off of herself.

"What, do you know who that is?" I asked.

"Well, I have a pretty good guess, seeing as how no other ships regularly depart from Bikanel," she said, a huge grin on her face. "It's our blitzball team! The Al Bhed Psyches!"

I looked up, my attention immediately caught. "Blitzball?" I asked, feeling jealous and somewhat left out. "Where are they going?"

"The tournament in Luca!" she cheered. "I forgot that it was coming up! It's an annual thing," she explained. "All the blitzball teams from all over Spira get together to compete. It's a HUGE deal!"

I couldn't help but feel like I was losing any chance I had at blitzball, but knew that it wasn't my fault. After all, I hadn't been here that long! They wouldn't have let me on the team or anything that fast…or maybe not even at all. After all, the Abes rocked back in my world, but for all I knew my tournaments might as well have been playing in the kiddy pool compared to today's standards. After all, this _was_ one thousand years in the future…

I tuned back into what Rikku was saying. "I hope we win this year!" she exclaimed. "At least I can count on us pounding the Aurochs into a pulp!" she snickered. "But the Goers have won every year for so long…"

I vaguely wondered who all these teams were, but figured I'd hear all about it when the Psyches returned. I would just have to wait patiently, as would Rikku.

In the meantime…

"Umm, Rikku?" I asked hesitantly, surprised she hadn't yet noticed our rather awkward situation.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going to sleep?"

"In a tent, dummy," she laughed and stuck her tongue out at me. I scratched the back of my head. As if I was supposed to know that.

"But…we don't have anything other than a now empty bag of food," I pointed out. She shook her head and walked over to her bike.

"No, this has happened to me so many times that I automatically pack tent stuff into my bag," she said, grabbing said red bag off of the handlebars. "It's not the best tent in the world, but it'll get the job done."

Amid many muffled curses and stubbed toes and shifting positions, we finally managed to set up the rather meager looking tent. Well, I really didn't care what it looked like, as I was just grateful to have been able to find some thicker sand and clay so that it would stay up. We grinned at each other, both feeling rather accomplished.

"I've got some thin blankets in here, too," Rikku said, motioning over to the bike again, and sure enough, there they were. "But I don't have any pillows or anything like that. You can probably just use your shirt and it'll be fine," she said, gesturing to my hoodie.

"What about you?" I asked.

"I'll just roll up an extra blanket."

"Oh," I answered dumbly, for the first time realizing that I would be sharing a tent with Rikku. For a night. Then I reminded myself that it didn't matter and that it wouldn't change anything. Mentally hitting myself in the head, I climbed into the small tent and collapsed onto the ground, my head resting on my shirt.

I hadn't realized how tense my body had been until I was finally able to relax. Rikku climbed in after me, and I saw the brief outline of her petite figure from the moonlight. I sighed and rolled over onto my stomach, ignoring the warmth of her body next to mine as she lay down next to me and covered us with one of the blankets to protect us from the surprisingly cool night air.

"I'm so happy you thought to bring this stuff," I said. "When I woke up, I had no idea what to do."

"No problem," she yawned. "I used to tag along behind Brother and Keyakku all the time, and I used to get very annoyed when they kept forgetting to bring tents because we never ended up going home early enough."

I smiled faintly as I heard her mutter something about boys that I figured would be best left alone.

"Goodnight, Rikku," I whispered.

"Night," she murmured back, and I could tell from the heavy slur in her words that she'd already almost been asleep. I quickly followed suit, Rikku's sweet scent lulling me into a deep slumber.

**Author's Note**

**Okay, okay, I give up. No more promises about when I'll update, but I still keep up the promise that I WILL finish this story. Sorry for the lack of a quick update.**

**As for the Rikku swimming thing. I suppose I explained that all pretty well in this chapter. I'd forgotten to put in the last chapter what I put in this one, so sorry about the confusion. Oops! But, I'd had this beach scene in my mind and I figured I couldn't get the touchy feely stuff in if she already knew how to swim. Well, at least not as much as I wanted, hehe.**

**And yeah, Yuna and company will be in this story, not to worry.**

**So, for anybody who has it right now: how's summer vacation going? **

**Well, don't forget to read and review! wags finger menacingly**

**Love always,**

**Anael Marie**


	4. Stories Clash

**A/N: Haha, well, this took a while to get updated. I'm sorry, I really am. You see, I sort of moved on from this whole fandom and plunged into the Kingdom Hearts one. I had always figured that my love for Kingdom Hearts and Sora/Riku would eventually come to an end, but…well, it's been like, two years, and it hasn't yet. So I'm just going to take a risk and continue to write this story. Although I'm not as passionate about it as I used to be, I AM passionate about making you guys happy, so I'll make it is great as I can. I read my previous chapters to catch myself back up, but, as I am human, I make mistakes. So if you see inconsistencies, let me know.**

**Oh, and my apologies if I accidentally say Riku instead of Rikku.**

**Thanks for the patience!**

* * *

Eyes like Yours

* * *

4. Stories Clash

When I awoke from my sleep, it was to the cozy feeling of the sun shining on my back. I stretched lazily, letting a deep yawn issue from my mouth, and curled around the warm blanket by my side. That is, I was relaxed until I realized that the blanket was actually a person. Stifling the urge to let out a very unmanly squeak, I more or less leapt away from the slumbering girl next to me, my head dizzy with the sudden movement. I gazed at the top of the tent and realized why I was so hot. The material was more or less nonexistent, completely worn from countless camping visits. I somehow managed to convince myself that the uncomfortable heat spreading through me was not from the blush spreading across my face.

I crawled out of the tent and collapsed on the sand just outside, not exactly wanting to get up yet, but not wanting to put myself in another awkward situation. Finally, with a grimace, I used all the strength my body possessed to heft myself up off the ground…

…only to jump a foot in the air when Rikku tapped me on the shoulder. I whirled around, a sheepish grin on my face.

"Can I help you, sleepyhead?" I asked cheekily, trying to make up for my obvious jumpiness.

Rikku grinned. "Morning, dahling," she replied easily. She tilted her head to the side. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" I shook my head, and she sighed, worrying at her lip. "I guess that means it's time to go back."

"I guess…" I muttered unwillingly, not wanting our trip to come to an end.

Rikku glanced around, eyes glazed and hair a little mussed from sleep. I couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight. Her swirly eyes traveled to my face, and she let a flustered smile cross her own face. "What?"

I shrugged. "One more swim? For kicks?"

She agreed, and together we goofed around in the water for an hour or so, allowing ourselves to just have fun. It was nice, not being around such intimidating people and not having to pretend to understand a language that I hadn't even known existed until a few days ago.

After a few water wars, much splashing, and playful, wet nudges, we finally decided that it was time to go. We allowed ourselves to dry as we began to pack everything up instead of immediately dressing. It didn't take long for the desert heat that I was so unaccustomed to to catch up to me, and I was grateful when it looked as though we'd gotten everything packed up. As I slipped my clothes on, I surveyed the area around us, just to make sure.

"Oh, Rikku!" I laughed. "The blitzball."

Rikku gave me a blank expression for a moment before letting out a nervous chuckle herself. "Hehe, good thing you noticed; it would've been bad if we'd forgotten _that_. Keyakku would have had our heads."

There was a moment of silence as we stared at each other and came to a simultaneous realization.

"We said we'd have the blitzball back to him last night…didn't we?" I asked hesitantly.

Rikku nodded. "Umm…it might be okay!" She made her attempt at being optimistic and failed horribly.

"Well, I mean," I ventured. "He probably just figured that you forgot to return it last night, right? He wouldn't think that you just never came back…"

Rikku bit her lip. "Keyakku and Brother are very protective of me. Home, in general, is pretty strict about trying to keep everyone together because, let's face it; Al Bhed aren't very popular in Spira. It's already a big deal if someone is wounded or killed. We're pretty close-knit. More than that, though, if someone gets hurt, then it could mean that Home is in danger, too."

I couldn't help feeling a bit exasperated. "So…you're saying we'll be in trouble if it turns out that your friend told that Cid guy."

"A _lot_ of trouble."

"I suppose this would be a bad time to give a bit more not-so-good news."

"Just lay it on me."

"I sort of…don't know where my goggles are."

Rikku burst out laughing. Not being able to see the humor in the situation, I crossed my arms, huffing indignantly. "It's not funny, Rikku!" I insisted. "This is a serious situation!"

Rikku, whose laughs had finally begun to subside, just giggled in response. "Wow, we are so screwed!" she collapsed onto the ground, breathing deeply. The curse sounded weird coming from her. "Well, I'm sure your goggles are around here somewhere."

I wondered what was going to happen to us when we got back to Home. If it had more or less sent Rikku off the deep end, it couldn't be good. This was something I simply couldn't comprehend. After being on my own for so long in a town where it was often the norm for people to not come back home until the next day, this was all so alien to me. I went to go grab the blitzball that was currently floating in the shallow water. When I surfaced, I decided to ask Rikku about what was on my mind.

"Hey Rikku?" I called over as she was kicking her feet through the sand, hoping to feel the scrape of the smooth plastic of my goggles. "What's going to happen when we get back?"

It took her a moment to answer. "Well," she called back over. "Just for not coming back last night, we'll be drilled about what we were doing and I'll be grounded for a few weeks."

"Grounded?" I echoed. "By who? Your dad? You don't seem that close to him…I haven't even met him yet."

"You don't want to meet him," Rikku muttered. She took a deep breath and swirled around to face me, looking me straight in the face. "Tidus, I have a confession to make."

This couldn't be good.

"What is it?"

"Cid is…" she trailed off, "…sorta my pops."

It was my turn to start laughing. "Are you kidding me?" I asked. "I just stole away the leader of the Al Bhed's daughter for a night."

"Well, actually," Rikku interrupted. "He'll know it was my fault that we didn't come back. But…he'll want to know who you are. Who you really are."

There was a nervous feeling rising up in the pit of my stomach. "I'm going to be…exiled or something, aren't I?" Where would I go if I didn't have Home?

"Maybe not," Rikku said, followed by a sly wink. "I'm pretty good with words. I might be able to get us out of this situation, but it would require you laying low in your room for a while."

I nodded and gave her an uneasy grin. She stepped forward, probably to give me a comforting hug, but tripped on something in the sand. She smiled joyfully. "Your goggles!" she exclaimed, holding them in the air triumphantly. "At least we can get inside Home without too much trouble, right?"

"Right."

* * *

It took us about half the time to make the trip Home than it took to get to the ocean. Rikku went through the process of checking in with the retina scan, and we dropped off the bikes in the basement. Suddenly, a voice came on over an intercom. "Would Rikku Mitsuya please report to the top floor. I repeat, would Rikku Mitsuya please report to the top floor."

"Wow," I said. "How did they even know you were here? We've only been in the building for like, three minutes!"

"I know," she whispered in a rushed tone. "It's the retina scan. Apparently, Cid assigned someone to check the security monitors so that he could be informed of my arrival."

"It sounds like a prison…and why do you keep calling him Cid?"

"I'll explain everything to you, but not right now. I'm fairly certain that if I'm not up at the top floor in the next ten seconds, Brother and Keyakku will come get me. Do you have all your Al Bhed gear?" she asked, stepping back to take a look at me. "Quick! Put on your goggles!" I did so hurriedly, just as the sound of elevator doors opening echoed through the basement. "Go hide behind that bike!" She pointed to a large black bike that could easily hide me, and I followed her instruction with no hesitation.

"Rikku!"

"Yes, Brother?"

Brother and Keyakku came towards Rikku with long, quick strides, both of them looking both annoyed, relieved, and angry.

"Rir?" Brother gave her a confused look, tilting his head to the side, before resuming his previous expression of 'clearly pissed off.'

_Huh?_

"Cunno, I sayhd: oac, Brother?" Rikku asked sweetly, clasping her hands behind her back and giving him a cute smile. He crossed his arms, the frown on his face deep, and shook his head at her with disappointment.

_Sorry, I meant: yes, Brother?_

"Frana eh Spira ryja oui paah? Cid ryc paah uid uv rec seht fedr funno! Oui ghuf ruf ra ec."

_Where in Spira have you been? Cid has been out of his mind with worry! You know how he is._

"E fyc zicd uid fedr Tidus bmyoehk blitzball! Uhla fa naymewat fryd desa ed fyc, ed fyc duu tyng du neta Home, fryd fedr dra veahtc yht ymm. Cu fa zicd taletat du lusa pylg vencd drehk eh dra sunhehk." She was gesturing madly, but only to further aggravate Brother.

_I was just out with Tidus playing blitzball! When we realized what time it was, it was too dark to ride Home, what with the fiends and all. So we just decided to ride back first thing in the morning._

I heard my name and the frustrated look on Rikku's face and knew that she was fighting a pointless battle. All I wanted to do was go out there and help her out, take the blame, but somehow, I just knew that wouldn't help. I remember what she had told me earlier, about having to lay low in my room for awhile. So when I saw Brother grab the squirming Rikku up into his arms like she was a doll to carry her up to Cid, I decided to make my own journey.

Unfortunately, I'd already almost completely forgotten how to get around the building. I took a deep breath, trying not to panic. I didn't particularly want to try to ask for help, because it would be obvious that I was not the Al Bhed that I looked like. I didn't want to run into either Brother or Keyakku, because they'd recognize me immediately and send me up, as well. I remembered that there were stairs and elevators on opposite ends of each floor in the main building.

Once I'd heard the elevator close behind the three Al Bhed, I waited a good ten minutes to use the elevator myself, just to be on the safe side. I finally stood from my hiding spot, not taking the time to examine all the technology around me. All I wanted to do was to get up to my room and wait for things to calm down. I strode to the elevator, pressed the button and waited for it to come down, got in, and pressed the button for the third floor. If I could remember right, that was the communications floor, and also the level that had skyways connecting to the different towers. I stood completely still in the elevator, despite the fact that I was alone. It was as though if I moved, I would be caught. Finally, I reached the third floor. I nervously stepped out when the doors slid open. I managed to get across to a door that led to the outside deck which, of course, led to several different skyways. I didn't even get any odd looks, despite my obvious anxiety. I made a mental note to later thank Rikku for the perfect clothes.

Once I was out on the deck, I realized I was lost. The deck stretched all around the third floor, and all of the skyways and towers looked identical. Which one was mine? I allowed the fresh air to calm me down as I closed my eyes. When I opened them back up, I headed towards the nearest skyway. It had a little sign that had a large red dot on it. That was the only thing that I could tell would differentiate it from the others. I took out my room key from my pocket and noticed for the first time that there was a green dot on it. I followed the deck around the building until I finally reached a skyway that had a sign with a green dot.

I all but ran down the skyway. I was thanking my luck for not running into any Al Bhed until, as soon as I opened the door that led to the tower, I ran straight into someone.

"I'm s-!" I cut myself off, hoping she hadn't heard. She hadn't. She'd fallen straight on the ground and looked up at me, looking as though she was about ready to chew me out. However, once she took in my apologetic face, she smiled and held out her hand. I grabbed it and gently helped her up, and she dusted off her already spotless clothes, which were so tight and tiny that I finally resolved to look nowhere else other than her face. What was with these Al Bhed fashions? And I had though Zanarkand was bad! The comparison made me chuckle. I did notice, though, that her almost white hair cascaded down her back into small curls at the end, and she wasn't wearing any goggles, letting her spiral green eyes face the world.

"Iss, E ys jano cunno. E fych'd byoehk yddahdeuh du frana E fyc kuehk." There was a brief pause, and she held out her hand again. I took it and shook it gently. "E's Runni, yht oui yna...?"

_Umm, I am very sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I'm Runni, and you are…?_

I caught the 'oui' at the end and noticed how she'd pointed to herself, calling herself Runni. When she trailed off, I guessed at what she was asking for. "Tidus," I supplied hopefully. She smiled and linked her arm in mine, beginning to walk with me. What on earth? I couldn't handle a full-out Al Bhed conversation!

"E ryjah'd caah oui ynuiht rana pavuna." She looked at me expectantly, and I heard the 'oui' again, but I had no idea how to respond. Once the silence had reached an awkward point, she tried again. "Tu oui ajah cbayg Al Bhed?"

_I haven't seen you around here before. Do you even speak Al Bhed?_

I shrugged helplessly.

"You talk Al Bhed?" she asked, greatly overemphasizing some vowels and talking slowly, dragging it out. I turned to her with surprise evident in my eyes, and grinned, thrilled that I could finally understand something.

"No."

"Why?" she questioned carefully. We continued to slowly circle around the outer deck of the 'green' tower.

"I've lived in…" I desperately tried to think of a city that Rikku had mentioned. There was a city where everybody went for the blitzball tournament, called…called…"Luca!" I burst triumphantly, before blushing when she gave me a confused expression. "Sorry, I just zoned out for a second there."

"Zoned out?" she echoed.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "Anyways, I've just never had to use the Al Bhed language before." I really hoped that this lie wouldn't come back around and get me in trouble. I simply didn't know what else to do in this situation. Why on earth was this girl being so friendly, anyways?

"Why you here?"

"I have a friend who lives here. I came to visit her."

Runni gave me another odd look. "Her? Almost no 'hers' leave Bikanel."

"Do you know Rikku?"

A frown crossed Runni's face. "You friends with Rikku? Yes, she the only girl who go outside Bikanel. Rikku is different."

"Is that bad?" I asked, desperately thirsting for information, to understand these foreign cultures. Runni shrugged and stopped, unlinking her hand from the crook of my arm. She approached the side of the deck and leaned against it, the sun shining on her face and making her glow. She was a very pretty girl, and she seemed to be genuine, but I wished I was with Rikku.

"It depends how you look at it," said Runni finally. "Lots Al Bhed think that it is bad. I see her point. She want world peace, like anyone. Many think her a traitor. Say she betray Al Bhed."

"And you?" I asked, joining her next to the edge. I jumped up onto the railing and into a sitting position, waving my feet in the air. She gasped, grabbing my arm.

"Careful!" she chided. Once she saw that I was just fine, she gave me a stern look but decided to let my action go. "Me and Rikku best friends long ago. Her mom then die, and Rikku change. Cid change, too. They grow apart, and so did me and Rikku. She started leaving Bikanel."

Through Runni's broken speech, I was able to understand Rikku's past a bit more. "What exactly happened to Rikku's mom?"

Runni bit her lip. I couldn't help but think about Rikku when she did that. They had very similar characteristics. "That something not talked about. Nobody know truth, anyway."

I could feel my brows furrow in confusion at Runni's statement, but I decided not to push it. This was supposed to be a light, casual conversation anyway, not something so serious. We'd never even met each other before, after all. I pulled out my room card again. "Can you help me find my room?" Runni nodded, and off we went.

* * *

"What were you _thinking_, Rikku?" Cid near exploded. Rikku cringed, hating when her father got like this. She knew he wouldn't physically hurt her, but she didn't like it when he was angry with her, either. "He's NOT Al Bhed! How could you lie to everyone like that, Rikku? I swear, if Brother and Keyakku hadn't told me…"

Rikku focused on the room surrounding her. She was in Cid's living quarters, where Brother also resided. She was sitting on a large, oversized stuffed couch in front of a sleek black coffee table. There were huge windows everywhere, and the sun outside bathed the room in its light. Rikku loved these windows, especially because she knew that from the outside, the windows were tinted. There was a small kitchen off to the side, as well as a large bathroom and bedroom. Keyakku stood a few feet behind Cid, waiting to take his leave. When Cid stopped talking to take in a breath for a few moments, Keyakku stepped forward.

"Rikku, may I please have my blitzball before I go?"

Rikku shot him a dirty look for him and Brother ratting her and Tidus out, and then gestured over to the door where her bag was. "Feel free. Search through my bag till you find it, while you're at it. It's obvious you don't mind including yourself in the business of others."

"Rikku!" Cid barked. "That was uncalled for! Apologize right now!"

"No!" Rikku cried, jumping to her feet so she could be at level height with Cid. "No, I won't apologize! The only thing I'm trying to do is to help us!"

Keyakku grabbed his blitzball and shot her an apologetic expression. He truly felt sorry and a little guilty, but at the same time, he knew that what he had done was for the better. It's not like he'd murdered someone. He left with a bad feeling in his stomach. This fight wouldn't end the same as the others…

"Rikku, I do NOT want to hear it right now. I'm sure you could warp your logic around enough to justify in your own mind that leaving for a night—with a young man who could be a Yevonite terrorist, for all we know!—not coming back, and showing the same man all around our Home, our only safe haven in ALL of Spira, is okay. It won't work for me though, Rikku. I am _through_ with this behavior!"

As Cid's bald head slowly began to turn a deep red and Rikku was starting to see a very defined vain on his forehead, she began to realize just how much trouble she was in. "He's indifferent to everyone, Cid! He doesn't see anyone as good or evil! Yevonites and the Al Bhed are one in the same to him! I was just hoping that the two of us could team up, work together to restore peace! We should all be fighting Sin together!"

Cid shook his head, speechless. "Rikku, nobody can be trusted. At this point, not even you." Cid's words hit hard. "I'm sure you're right, that he's just a normal guy, at least as of now…but once Sin's toxin wears off, he'll go straight back to being a dangerous Yevonite, brainwashed and completely loyal to his beloved religion."

Rikku could see where this conversation was going, and couldn't decide whether she was furious or immensely sad. She inwardly cursed herself for not explaining her plan to Brother and Keyakku before leaving with Tidus. Tidus being Brother's friend…that's something Cid would've believed. Because Brother was so dedicated and loyal to Cid, Cid had unwavering trust in his only son. Rikku, though…Cid never knew what to expect from her. He probably thought her to be a traitor, too. She should have formalized a plan with Brother and _all_ of her close friends to keep Tidus at Home….

"Rikku…" Cid looked down at the ground, his tone softening. She saw the sun behind him begin to go down. There was a sense of melancholy in the room now, and Rikku felt nauseous. There was silence for a long time. She noticed the wrinkles on his forehead and the bags under his eyes and for the first time really noticed his age. He must be under such stress. He was the only leader of a race of over a thousand people, solely charged with the security and safety of his people. "I didn't want to have to do this."

"Please don't make Tidus go," Rikku whispered. Cid shook his head.

"I am afraid that it is you who must go, Rikku. Both you and Tidus."

The freedom that Rikku had longed for so long….she finally had it! And all she could feel was fear. "Cid, why?" she asked, a tear slipping down her cheek. Cid looked away.

"You know why, Rikku. These are dangerous times, and you have put everyone in Home at risk. I have tried to control your actions, but…it is evident that you are your own leader. I am making this decision not because I want to, but because I have to protect everyone at Home, and I cannot do it while you're here."

"But Cid!" Rikku protested, her eyes rimmed with red as she fought tears. "If it's so dangerous, then how can you send me out there?"

Cid offered her a proud smile. She saw tears in his eyes, as well. She'd only ever seen him cry once in her life…"I am able to send you out there because I have full confidence in your strength and abilities. Rikku, you are probably the strongest young woman I know…possibly the strongest person in general."

Rikku felt her head spin from the enormous compliment, but still felt helpless. "Can I…can I ever come back?"

Cid sighed. "I will find a way to let you know when you can return Home."

"What's there to stop me from coming back?" Rikku asked, feeling sick.

"I will have to block your retina scan for security, and I'll take your keys."

Rikku collapsed to the floor, hair in her face and her mouth impossibly dry. She started coughing, and Cid came to her and kneeled. He put his arms around her in a comforting hug. "I told you this would happen. I told you exactly what I would do if you disobeyed me again." Rikku nodded before taking a deep breath and attempting to calm herself. She walked over to her bag.

Cid watched his daughter head across the room. He was sure that she felt like he didn't love her, and it hurt him more than anything in the world could. Their relationship had been shaky ever since her mother had been murdered, and she simply refused to see why her actions scared him so. She was so much like her mother….but much more capable of taking care of herself. "Rikku…" he trailed off awkwardly when she stopped, her back to him. "I'm sorry."

Rikku bent down to her bag and took out her keys. "Here," she said, offering them to her father. "When do you want me gone?"

"I _don't_ want you gone," Cid argued, beginning to feel his temper rise. Really, they were both too emotional and stubborn for their own good.

Rikku crossed her arms, waiting. Cid gave in. "If anyone sees you around Home after tomorrow afternoon, I will escort you out myself." Rikku nodded and began pushing open the door that led to the stairs.

The last time Cid ever heard Rikku was when the door shut behind her as she exited.

**

* * *

**

**A/N:**

**So you're probably either really angry with Rikku or really angry with Cid right now. Or maybe Brother and Keyakku. It also probably seems like I used a lot of extremes…like how Cid kicks his daughter out of her only Home and the only place she's completely comfortable with. In all honesty, it's something I can see my parents doing to me, and it's not because they don't love me. I hope I conveyed that idea.**

**But yeah, sorry if Rikku seems a little snotty. I figure that everybody has their faults, and I can see that being hers. She's only fifteen.**

**And yay, I remember exactly where this story is going! Yuna, Auron and the rest of those people will be in the next chapter, so….something to look forward to!**

**Later gaters.**

**Anael Marie.**


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note:

This is a COMPLETELY unedited version of the chapter. The reason I am putting this up is to…well, I miss writing it and getting feedback, and I feel incredibly guilty for leaving you all hanging. I will be posting an EDITED version on my Livejournal soon, and that is where I will continue to update this story. I really hope you guys all like it, and I'm sorry for letting it get to be so long since I last updated.

Chapter 5

Runni didn't stay long with me; she just dropped me off at my room. She was friendly enough and asked if I would like some food, but I said no, impatiently waiting for Rikku to get back. I wasn't sure what was going on with her at the moment. Was she in trouble? I suddenly felt a wave of guilt for causing so many problems to the young Al Bhed girl. If I'd had any idea how difficult it was going to be for me to exist on Bikanel, I would have…

What would I have done? It's not like I chose to come here. I hadn't had much of a choice of where I went once I arrived in Spira; it was up to the Al Bhed. Still, why had I come here in the first place? Was it like destiny or something? Before I was swept up into the mouth of Sin, Auron had said something along the lines of this being my story. What did that mean? Fate?

And so my mind ran in circles for what I guessed was about an hour. I just sat on my bed, my foot tapping on the ground and my hands moving restlessly along the sheets in anxiety. Staring out the window definitely didn't ease my nerves, and neither did glancing around the room. There was nothing there for me to distract myself, and I didn't feel like testing fate by leaving my room. Runni might have bought my lie, but I didn't want to have to tell any more stories today.

Too bad I didn't bring any music, I thought suddenly. If there was one thing that could have helped ease me at the moment, it would have been music. Or a blitzball. I groaned and lay back on the bed, crossing my arms behind my head.

The sun was just starting to go down when I heard a small thump outside my door. I bolted up from the bed, staring at the door. Home was oddly quiet at the moment, and I wondered if it was just my imagination.

The door opened, revealing a worn looking Rikku. She leaned against the doorframe, giving me a bitter smile. "Time to pack up!" she said with what I could tell was false enthusiasm.

I bit my lip, swinging my feet a little. "Uh, what happened?" I asked cautiously. I hadn't known Rikku that long and wasn't completely sure how to act around her when she was so obviously upset.

"We need to be outta here by tomorrow, and I'd rather leave now." She was glaring down at the floor, her posture rigid. I nodded even though she couldn't see it. "I'm gonna grab my stuff and then I'll come get you."

"Hey Rikku?" I called as she was about to swing the door shut behind her. She paused but didn't turn to look, and I thought I saw a shudder run through her body. I felt the guilt once again. "I'm sorry. I'm sure this is my fault."

She finally turned to face me with a watery smile. "S'okay. This is what I've always wanted. I shouldn't have expected to be allowed to leave on good terms. I can't have my cake and eat it, too." She shook her head and then left.

I heaved a huge sigh, glancing around the room. I wasn't particularly sad to leave the place, seeing as how I hadn't spent much time here. There were only two things that really bothered me, and those were that now I might never get to learn Al Bhed and that Rikku was obviously hurting and it was because of me.

I didn't have much to pack up. I left my Al Bhed clothes on, just to be safe, and threw my blitz uniform in one of Rikku's bags. I took off the goggles, though, grateful to get rid of the faint tint that they had. Rikku knocked this time before she entered the room.

"Ready to go?"

I nodded, trying to give her a warm smile; anything to cheer up the oppressive mood. Who was I kidding? If I'd gotten kicked out of the place I'd spent my entire life, I'd be sad, too. This had to be hard on her…

"Let's leave through the main doors," she said, almost to herself. "I don't want to feel like I'm sneaking out of my own Home." Her gaze was fierce, although she was looking at nothing in particular. She had a heavy bag slung over her shoulder. She weaved her hand through the crook of my arm and set off, somewhat dragging me behind her. I knew I didn't imagine the small heat flooding to my face, so I glanced at the ground until my red cheeks went away. It wouldn't bode well for her to see those.

"Anywhere in particular you want to go once we leave Bikanel?" she asked conversationally, sparing me a glance. I shrugged.

"I only know Zanarkand, and I guess that's uninhabitable now…"

She nodded, almost distractedly, as we got into an elevator and she pressed the button to go down to the main level. I suppressed my curiosity as to how we were going to get off the island. For all I knew, she had her own private ship.

"If we manage good speed, we might be able to get to Luca before the tournament is over," she suggested idly. "You might see someone you know there."

I snorted. "I think everyone would be dead by now." I hadn't thought about it up until now, but suddenly, it hit me. Everyone I'd ever known was gone. I hadn't had any close friends other than my fellow team members, but I could remember the faces of fans and other citizens, and I felt a wave of nostalgia rush through me. Rikku glanced at me with concern.

"You okay?" she asked. I nodded.

"There might be…someone." I bit my lip as I remembered the man with the eye patch and dark, scarred skin. He was the one person that had taken care of him when his mother had died. "Have you ever heard of a man named Auron?"

Rikku gave me a weird look and opened her mouth to say something, but the elevator dinged; we were at the main level. The doors opened, revealing the hustle and bustle of daily Al Bhed life. I followed Rikku as she approached the main desk and the woman sitting behind it.

"Hello, Zyha," Rikku greeted the woman. She was tiny, very petite, with short hair that was braided into ponytails that stuck out at the side. She, too, wore goggles, although her clothes consisted of a normal t-shirt with a vest over it and baggy shorts. She looked up at Rikku apprehensively; apparently, she'd been informed of their leaving. I wished I had been informed. I really didn't even know why we were being kicked out.

"Can I help you, Rikku?" she asked politely.

Rikku nodded. "Why, yes you can. Could you ask Nadala to prepare a sailboat for us? I'm sure Cid had already informed him of our departure."

Zyha nodded and picked up the phone, dialing a few numbers. "Nadala, Rikku is leaving tonight. Can you prepare a sailboat?"

There was a pause and I could hear the faint murmur of another voice on the phone. Zyha looked to Rikku. "Which dock?"

"East," she replied immediately. Zyha repeated her word into the phone. When she put the phone back down, she crossed her arms on the desk. I shifted anxiously from foot to foot.

"You are leaving for the Moonflow, I presume?" she asked. Rikku nodded. "Very well. Nadala will escort you there; we can't afford to lose another one of our boats," she explained. "If you'd like, you can take a hover bike and meet him at the dock. You're allowed to keep it once you reach Moonflow."

Rikku smiled gratefully and reached into her shorts' pocked to grab her keys. She dropped them on the desk unceremoniously. "Thanks Zyha." The woman nodded stiffly, but surprised me when a motherly look of concern flashed across her face.

"You take care of yourself, Rikku," she instructed sternly. "We'll miss you."

"I will. Bye!"

We headed back to the elevator, and Rikku wasted no time in interrogating me. "How do you know about Auron?" Curiosity dripped from her voice.

I shrugged. "I don't know him very well, although maybe I should. He took care of me after my mom died."

Rikku looked torn between comforting me and asking questions, but we got into the elevator she opted for the questions. If she was anything like me, she probably had a hard time comforting people. That was just fine; I didn't need it, anyway, and I really didn't feel like getting into a discussion about my parents.

"And you said he had dark skin and some scars?"

I nodded. "And he always wore a red leather trench coat."

"That's impossible!" she burst as we stepped inside and she pressed the B1 button. Her face was filled with confusion when she faced me. "He was my cousin's dad's guardian like, ten years ago! We all thought he was dead when he never returned."

I lifted up my hands in defeat. "You know I have no idea what you're talking about, right? What's a guardian and where did he never return from?" My eyes widened as realization came over me. "My mom died shortly after I turned eleven. Auron started taking care of me a little while before she died, when I was ten."

Rikku was dead silent and staring at the ground, biting her lip in thought. Her hair fell into her face, hiding her emotions. The elevator dinged again and we stepped into the basement, heading for a hover bike. I groaned.

"Not this again…"

She smiled teasingly at me. "How about you ride in back? I don't see why it's necessary for both of us to get killed if you drive."

I didn't get it for a second until I remembered that we were supposed to share a bike. I felt a nervous bubble rise up my throat and butterflies dancing in my stomach, but of course I wouldn't tell her that. I stuck my tongue out at her as I sat down on the seat. She shook her head in amusement and climbed on in front of me, her back to my chest.

"Why are we only taking one?" I asked as I felt the warmth from her body seep into mine.

Her answer was muffled as she gunned the engine. "We have limited resources and can't afford to lose anything. My dad's actually being rather generous."

"Uh huh."

"By the way, you should probably put your goggles back on if you don't want to lose your eyes." I did as I was told.

She slowly pulled up to the door and when it opened, we took off. After slightly flailing for a second or two, I decided I definitely needed to find a place to put my hands, because if I didn't my legs would be dying later from the effort of gripping the bike. With minor hesitation, I placed my hands on her hips. Although I couldn't really tell, I could practically sense the smirk on her face.

Rikku took an immediate turn east the moment we left the confines of Home. We followed the beach for a while as the sun blazed, as hot as ever, and I felt the sand swirling around my legs. Grateful though I was for the Al Bhed clothing that protected me from the biting sand, I was still anxious for the trip to be over for multiple reasons. Having Rikku in such close proximity wasn't something I was prepared for, but thankfully the desert _did_ distract me from her presence. My fingers tightened on the leather belt tied around her waist when she finally screeched us to a halt. I looked up and noticed that there was a long stretch of wooden deck before us, and next to it was a sailboat.

I hopped off the bike quickly, causing my companion to giggle. She walked it up to the dock and next to the boat. "Nadala?" she called. A man peered over the side, his bald head glimmering in the sunlight.

"It's all ready to go," he shouted back.

"Come on," Rikku urged, touching my arm lightly.

"Is this really safe?" I asked.

"Yep!"

"Even with…Sin our there?" I shoved my hands into the pockets of my baggy shorts, looking anywhere but her. I didn't want her to think I was scared—

"You scared?"

Just great. I finally gazed into her dancing green spirals and shook my head. "It's just that, if it sucks us up or whatever it does, I don't want to be separated from you," I said honestly. She smiled warmly and took my hand in hers, gently brushing my palm with her thumb. She gave it a final light squeeze before pulling away, leaving my poor hand scorching.

"It'll be okay. I promise I'll protect you!" She bounded off and up the ramp into the boat. I chuckled and followed her, dragging the bike along with me.

I may have loved water, but I really hated travelling on it. It was boring to be stuck in such a small space for so long a period of time. Rowboats and huge ships were all the same to me; I tried to avoid them. This particular trip wasn't any better. Although I normally would have enjoyed the time to talk to Rikku, Nadala's presence made things a bit more awkward. Nadala and Rikku didn't seem to be the closest of friends, and so everything remained silent. She was near the gallery, her legs hanging in between the railing as she rested against the handrail. She was staring out at the water, clearly lost in thought. I was leaning against the mast, dozing off as the sky slowly turned black.

When my eyes opened, I didn't realize that I had actually fallen asleep. It seemed like I'd been awake the whole time, but of course, now there was a shore in front of us that hadn't been there when my eyes closed, and the sun was high in the sky. Rikku was gently shaking my shoulder, rubbing sleep from her own eyes.

"Guess we had a safe trip, after all," she sighed in relief, releasing a yawn. She stretched her arms out above her head and I followed suit. Looking up at the sky, she smiled brightly. "At least we don't have to travel in the dark!"

"Thanks for the ride, Nadala!" Rikku called, hoisting her bag on her back. He smiled and gave a light wave back. "Are you heading right back home?"

"Nah, since I'm here I'll take care of some personal business, first." Rikku shrugged and turned to me, her eyes vibrant with excitement.

"Let's go. There's no way we'll make it to Luca in one day, but we can get as far as possible. The problem is that I'm not sure exactly what day it starts…"

She trailed off, mumbling to herself as we followed a small trail through a small forest. I glanced around me, having not expected to go backpacking through a bunch of woods. Of course, I hadn't known what to expect. If I was travelling in Zanarkand, of course I would have grabbed a car, or for long distance I would have gotten a ticket on an airship. Rikku had told me that the Al Bhed were the only race that used machina, so I really shouldn't be surprised that we were travelling by foot, but I was.

We didn't talk much, due to the heat. It must have rained the previous day or something, because my short hair was clinging to my forehead under the humidity. Up ahead, I could see Rikku swipe her hand across her forehead, and she pulled her hair into a bun so that no stray strands would touch her neck.

"Can we stop for a second?" I called hopefully. She nodded, collapsing onto a rock and pulling out a bottle of water.

"It's really hot!" she complained. "And not Bikanel hot. Stupid humidity."

I smirked and walked a few paces away to stand by a tree, making sure to bring my bag with me. "Can you look away for a second? I'm gonna change into my old clothes."

Rikku blushed slightly—it was probably from our outdoor excursions—and turned away, fiddling with something in her own bag. Gratefully, I began stripping off the clingy, think Al Bhed material, quickly replacing it with my blitz clothing. I'd gotten use to the feel of the goggles, but now that I remembered they were there, I took them off. I blinked as my eyes were bombarded with the light of the day. I squinted when I tried to tie up the laces of my shoes, and it took me a few tries because my eyes were watering. Finally, I finished and turned back. I sighed in relief when a light breeze touched my bare chest.

"Thanks for washing these, Rikku." I glanced down at my attire, wondering when she'd had the time to do it. She stared at me for a moment, looking like she was on another planet, before shaking her head and letting a smug smile cross her face.

"No prob!"

When we started walking again, Rikku seemed to grow a little tense. "We'll probably run across a fiend or two, now that the woods are thickening," she murmured to me, as we were now walking side by side. I nodded, preparing myself for a sudden attack, but none came. Instead, I heard the gentle gurgle of a river up ahead. If possible, her face brightened and fell at the same time.

"Just kidding," she said, rushing ahead. "We have to cross the river now. Then we'll be at Moonflow."

That was just fine by me; I didn't mind getting wet. It would be nice to remove the sticky feel of drying sweat from my body. I caught up to her at the edge of river. We were standing on an edge, the water three or four feet below us. The river wasn't very large and would be easy enough to cross because the current wasn't strong at all. She was staring at the water a little uneasily, and I clapped her lightly on the back.

"Hey, this is no big deal!" I encouraged. Without hesitation, I jumped in. I swam underwater for a few moments, reveling in the cool feeling against my skin. I finally surfaced to her anxious green eyes. "Come on in! You'll be glad you did."

She took a deep breath and jumped. Her head went below the water for a second, but she was up again just as quickly. She waded in place for a moment as I shot her a cocky grin.

"Told ya so."

She splashed me and swam ahead, clutching my shoulder for just a second as she passed. I swam next to her, but she was just fine. The land was lower on the other side, so we just walked onto the beach, soaking from head to foot. She giggled.

"Uh, Tidus? Not a good fashion statement." Huh? She sauntered over, smirking as she reached up to run a hand through my hair. I looked away until she pulled her hand away, a couple stray leaves from the river clutched in it. She grinned and dropped them to the ground, skipping ahead.

"What can I say? The world's against me," I claimed, following.

"The Moonflow is a little south of us," she explained. She'd managed to find another path. "To the north is Guadosalam, but that's not important." We came to a T in the path and she stared left—north—where the trees seemed darker and there was almost dead silence. She shuddered and grabbed my hand, pulling me on the path leading right. "Hopefully, we won't ever have to go that way. That place gives me the creeps."

"I couldn't tell from your whole-body shudder," I teased, not relinquishing her hand. "So Rikku _is_ scared of something besides lightning."

She sniffed. "I didn't claim to be fearless—" Her eyes widened. "But I'm not admitting that I'm afraid of Guadosalam! Guados are fine, just not very cheery or…friendly. Don't tell anyone I said that, though."

"Why not?" I couldn't keep the curiosity out of my voice.

"The new maester of Spira is a Guado," she explained, as if that sentence would make sense to me.

"Well that just explains everything," I deadpanned. She shot me a flustered look.

"You're like a toddler, constantly needing to ask how everything works." It was her turn to joke now. Her eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Oh, fine, if that's how it's going to be." I turned away haughtily, trying to ignore her presence. She chuckled and tugged on my arm.

"Don't be a baby, now," she warned, her voice pure laughter. I gasped in mock outrage, but she continued before I could get a word out. "I shall explain all," she said sagely. "A maester is a ruler of Spira. There are three maesters right now. Maester Wen Kinoc represents regular humans, like you," she pointed out. "And Maester Kelk Ronso represents, of course, the Ronso tribe. Talking against a maester, like the third maester, Seymour Guado, is blasphemy, even for an Al Bhed like me. You just don't do it."

She paused for a second before hitting her head. "Oh! And of course there is the Grand Maester Yo Mika. I heard a rumor that when he dies, Seymour Guado is supposed to take his place."

I nodded, trying to take it all in. "So…why don't you like Guados again?"

She shook her head. "It's not that I _dislike_ them. In all honesty, I would love world peace. I know it's not possible; there will always be fighting. I guess I just feel that if we have to be fighting, it shouldn't be against each other; it should be against Sin. Sin is the one attacking us, killing us, creating orphans of every race all over the world." I was impressed at her speech; apparently, she'd given this argument before.

"But that still doesn't answer my question," I urged.

She fidgeted. "It's stupid," she mumbled, staring at the ground. I nudged her and she finally gave in. "Fine! They just give me the creeps, that's all!" she admitted.

I cracked a smile. "Jee, way to be judgmental, Rikku." She—very maturely, might I add—stuck her tongue out at me.

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise from up ahead. Rikku's head snapped up when she heard it, and she jumped up and down in joy. "It's a shoopuf!"

"It sounded like a horn. Wait…it's a _what_?" I asked, eyes wide.

She was like a little kid with candy. "I love shoopufs. They're big and friendly and lazy and adorable!" She glanced at me. "Did you ask something?"

"Uh, yeah. What's a shoopuf?"

"They're really big, with long trunks and small eyes. They're gray, with massive tails. They're used to cross rivers. Do you know what all that means?"

I shook my head.

"It means we've made it to Moonflow!"

Once again, she was skipping ahead and dragging me along behind her. I stumbled over the rocks as we finally followed the path threw a small patch of trees and into a large clearing. "Yes!" she cheered, throwing her hands up and dancing a little. I pouted at the loss of her hand in mine, but quickly plastered a cheesy grin on my face as soon as she turned to face me.

INSERT DESCRIPTION OF THE MOONFLOW HERE

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Rikku whispered, clasping her hands in front of her body. Her eyes remained locked on the pyreflies before her, the scenery creating rainbows in her eyes; I was transfixed.

"Yeah," I also whispered, afraid to say anything more for fear of giving myself away. She sighed.

"Well, we should get a move on. The sun should start to be going down in an hour or two." She looked up at the sky for proof and nodded. "Yep, definitely need to move."

She walked ahead, but I stayed behind for a moment, still staring at the Moonflow. I'd never seen anything like it; I had no idea something so beautiful could really exist. Zanarkand had its own beauty, of course. Between the soaring skyscrapers and neon lights, I was sure that it would amaze anyone in Spira. Neither of those things seemed as special as this place did, though, and I had to will my legs to move again.

"Come on, Tidus!" I heard Rikku shout. It was quickly followed by a scream. The scream sounded eerily familiar, and I instantly knew who it came from. I ran without thinking, the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I followed the path until I passed through another patch of trees and came into another clearing. This clearing, however, had people. There was a large creature thrashing erratically with fear near a large river; almost like an ocean. There were a few shops and tents for people to rest. However, all the people were gathered into a lopsided circle further down the river from the creature. Only a few people stayed away from the chaos to help relax the creature and keep it under control. Obviously, it was a shoopuf, but my mind wasn't really focused on the animal I didn't recognize. Instead, my eyes swept the area for any sign of Rikku, and it didn't take me long to guess that she was probably in the gathering of people somewhere. I rushed forward, pushing people out of my way; I heard more shouting.

"It's another one!" I heard an irritated male voice hiss. I finally managed to break through the crowd.

"Stop it!" Rikku screeched, swiping angrily at the man holding her. The man, tall and muscular with red hair, tan skin, and what was obviously a blitz uniform had her wrist in one of his large hands. He didn't seem to be hurting her, but he was definitely angry.

"Hey, get off her!" I shouted, shoving him in the chest. His eyebrows rose in surprise. A woman with black hair and a billowing, elaborate black dress came up behind him, as well as a small group of what seemed to be his companions. The black-haired woman touched his arm and tried to pull him away, but he didn't back up.

"You know her?" The redhead eyed me appraisingy.

"Of course I know her," I retorted angrily. "Now lay off!"

I looked at Rikku who looked torn between flustered and offended. An almost invisible expression of guilt crossed her face. Now, however, probably wasn't the time to ask.

"Wakka, stop it." The girl who spoke was small, almost as petite as Rikku. She had brown hair and a gentle face. When I looked closer I saw that she had one blue eye and one green. Despite her smaller stature, her voice was firm and left no room for argument. He scratched his head sheepishly and backed away, but the girl came forward.

Rikku smiled tentatively. "Guess we should talk, huh?"

I tensed. What was going on? The other girl nodded and headed towards the empty clearing we'd passed through earlier. Rikku began to follow her, smiling apologetically at me.

"Sorry," she murmured. "I promise everything's okay, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

I stared at her mutely as she walked away, running to catch up with the brunette girl. My jaw tightened as I shot a venomous glare at the redhead, who was gracious enough to cast me another somewhat sheepish look as he turned to his friends. I absolutely didn't feel like talking with a bunch of strangers, so I found a large boulder and sat on the ground, leaning against it and closing my eyes.

Just when I had started to relax despite the sunbeams beating on my closed eyelids, I heard someone approach. "So, you her bodyguard?" I recognized the redhead's voice and immediately scowled, opening my eyes.

"What is your _problem_?" I hissed. Another man came up behind—who was it? Wakka?—and suddenly it was like I felt the world collapse beneath me as I finally noticed and recognized him. I leapt to my feet.

"_Auron_?"

Auron stared at me emotionlessly. He pushed back his hair and lowered his face a little so that he could see above his sunglasses to look at me calculatingly. "I believe that we need to have a talk, as well." There was a hint of amusement somewhere in his words, but he was mostly dead serious, like I remembered him. I agreed dumbly as Wakka started protesting.

"Now wait just a minute here. How do you guys know each other?" His protests faded away as Auron led me to a few trees.

I rounded on him. "What are we doing here? How did we get here? Where have you been? Who are all those people? What's their problem with Rikku? What is Sin?" The questions came pouring out fast, questions I didn't even know I'd been asking myself.

Auron chuckled darkly. "And people here know you! How is that possible when you came from Zanarkand, like me? What's all this about you being Rikku's…dad's…cousin's…guardian?" I stumbled over the words; still not clear about what a guardian was or who Auron was supposedly the guardian of.

"I believe you mean Rikku's cousin's father," Auron clarified. I crossed my arms expectantly. "Yes, I was the guardian of Yuna's father, Braska."

"That's impossible! This is a thousand years in the future!"

Auron smirked, but not rudely. It was like he was recalling old memories. "Nothing impossible about it."

"Argh!" I was suddenly more frustrated than I'd even been before. Everything seemed so confusing. The only thing I'd learned that made sense was what a maester was. But what was a guardian? What _was_ Sin, and why did it take us from Zanarkand?

"I came to watch over you ten years ago, after I helped to defeat Sin here, in Spira, with Braska and Jecht."

My head snapped up at the mention of my father's name. "My old man? He was here, too?"

"He mysteriously disappeared from that blitzball training expedition out at sea, do you recall?" I nodded. "He came here, to Spira, and after a time joined Braska and me. He asked me at one time to come to you and bring you to Spira after we defeated Sin."

I didn't have thoughts; my brain felt like it was suffering through a whirlwind. "Guess he was famous here, too," I grumbled.

No response. I figured as much. Auron didn't like it when I whined.

"We are here because Jecht wanted you here. We got here because Sin transported us. I merely appeared in a different location in Spira and, ironically, met Braska's daughter. 'Those people' are Yuna's guardians. They are on a pilgrimage with her to defeat Sin and protect her along the way. I am also her guardian now. They might have a problem with your friend because one of her race just made an attempt to kidnap Yuna."

My head spun from the information. I wanted to ask about Yuna being kidnapped, I did, but something was weighing heavily in the back of my mind. "If Sin was already defeated by Yuna's dad, then why is it still around?"

Auron paused, and I look closely at him. I noticed for the first time how old he looked and how weary his face seemed to be despite how powerful he was. Scars covered his skin, especially the one that crossed his left eye. His skin glimmered oddly in the sunlight, as did the few locks of gray in his hair.

Eventually, he evaded the question. "Did you not feel Jecht when you came into contact with Sin?"

My heart stopped. That hadn't just been me? My face felt hot as I felt a bad feeling growing in my stomach. "I, I don't—"

"You can sense it, can't you?" Auron's eyes regarded me carefully, as if searching my brain. "Sin is Jecht."

I growled, my hands clenching into fists. "No way! That's impossible! It makes no sense!"

Auron sighed, backing away a little. "But it does. You will come to learn with time. You still have much to learn."

I felt like tearing at my hair. "I don't understand…" I muttered. It was a strange feeling, highly unpleasant; to learn that your father was killing hundreds, maybe thousands of people in a world you hadn't even known existed. In fact, it was a nauseating feeling.

Sitting on the ground, I pulled my legs up to my chest, feeling like hiding from the world. It was immature, I knew, but if I didn't take a break I would surely explode. Auron grunted and rejoined Yuna's guardians. They were all talking quietly, occasionally shooting me suspicious glances, but I ignored them.

Rikku and Yuna reappeared suddenly, broad smiles on both of their faces. "I have some news for everyone!" Yuna announced. A tall, blue…creature came to stand behind her, crossing his arms. Everyone else huddled in front of her, including Rikku. I stayed leaning against the tree, looking away but still listening. "Rikku will be joining us."

Auron nodded. "And Tidus?"

Rikku spoke up. "He'll be coming, too," she said. I could sense her gaze on me. "If he wants to, that is."

I suppose I must have nodded, for they continued. Wakka seemed to have a few issues. "You just got attacked by one of those Al Bhed and now you're letting one join us? She can't come in the temples!"

Yuna gazed at him sternly as Rikku glared. "Wakka, you will treat her with complete respect, if not friendliness. She is my cousin."

I knew that, of course. Apparently, everyone did except Wakka. I could see why they were keeping it secret from him. Suddenly, everything Rikku told me about the Yevonites hating the Al Bhed seemed to become clear. Wakka stayed silent, brooding. The black-haired woman nudged him pointedly.

"The more…the merrier. I guess." His voice was grudging as he stared at the ground.

Trying to lighten the mood, Yuna stepped up to him. "Didn't you ever wonder why I had one green eye?" she asked curiously. He shrugged.

"We should be moving on," Auron suggested with authority. Yuna clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Yes."

The fact that we were going the same way Rikku and I had come from didn't escape my notice, and it annoyed me slightly. I was close to running out of water, I wanted to sleep, I wanted answers, I was sick of being confused, I was hot, and I wanted to talk to Rikku. Rikku, however, was up at the front of the group next to Yuna, chatting animatedly.

We eventually came to the same T from earlier, only this time we went straight, heading for Guadosalam. How I remembered the name was beyond me; it was nothing short of a miracle. I continued to linger at the back of the group until eventually, Wakka slowed down so he was at my side.

"So, uh…" I got the feeling he was trying to apologize for his behavior earlier, but I changed the subject so it wouldn't be so awkward.

"So you're on a blitzball team?" I asked. Blitzball was a safe subject, right? He grinned and nodded.

"Sure am! Captain of the Besaid Aurochs, at your service!" he said proudly. His eyebrows furrowed. "Well, ex-captain, I guess."

"Why ex?" I inquired.

"Had to fulfill my guardian duties," he explained. "And, you play blitzball, too?" he asked.

I nodded, brightening a little. I was about to inform him of my star status on the Zanarkand Abes, before I remember Rikku had warned me not to talk about Zanarkand. "Just for fun. I'm not on a team or anything."

Wakka eyed my uniform oddly, but didn't say anything. "You know Sir Auron?"

I laughed, looking at him. "Where'd the 'Sir' come from?" I continued laughing for a moment.

"You shouldn't be rude…" Wakka pointed out.

I shrugged. "We go way back," I said bitterly, burning holes into Auron's back. Sensing that he wasn't going to get an answer, Wakka coughed a little and excused himself, saying he needed to talk to Lulu. He jogged up to her, giving me an odd glance over his shoulder. I stayed at the back, trudging.

It surprised me when I didn't notice the scenery changing. I was so lost in my dark thoughts that as the forest darkened around me and the tree trunks grew thick and twisted. I did notice when I stepped onto a dark wooden floor built into the forest floor. I glanced up in surprise to see two massive doors in front of us, ornate and organic. Rikku pulled back, coming to stand beside me, but I didn't have anything to say. As Yuna and Auron went to the front of the group to greet one of the citizens of Guadosalam, I found myself distracted by Rikku tentatively touching my hand.

Bad mood or not, I felt my heart leap to my throat. I gently took her hand in mine, trying to act casual and friendly, in case that's how she mean for the gesture to be. When I looked back up, I got a closer look at the greeter.

And wow.

"What the heck is that?" I whispered to Rikku. She giggled, hitting me lightly like she was scolding me.

"That would be a Guado," she stated.

"Oh." It was ugly. It's—I guess it could be considered a he—_his_ hair looked like it was made from seaweed, and his limbs were oddly long. He had a bizarre voice, which Rikku later told me was unique just to that Guado. Most of them sounded like us.

Apparently, Trommel Guado, wanted to lead Yuna to his leader, the maester, Seymour Guado.

"Is this safe?" I whispered to Rikku. "These guys are kinda creepy. I mean, they live underground, have enlarged body parts and—"

Rikku cut me off, laughing once again. "You are so rude," she teased. "No, I'm not sure she's safe, but we're going to keep her that way. You're shiny, brand new Guardian now."

I eyed her skeptically. "Seems like she already has enough."

"She's got a lot of friends," Rikku agreed. "Everyone loves her and just…wants her to be safe."

I pondered on that, thinking there was more to the story that I was missing. The others had followed Trommel and Yuna, and Rikku and I were lingering behind, trying to conceal our secret conversation. "Who attacked her earlier?"

Rikku looked down and clenched her fists. "Nadala."

"Wait, the guy who brought us here?" I asked. She nodded.

"Apparently, he was here for more than just 'personal business.'"

Suddenly, I was angry. "So basically, everything you've been telling me up until now has been a lie. You really do want to hurt the Summoners!"

She glared at me, outraged. "You don't even know what you're talking about! Stop jumping to conclusions!"

I was slightly pacified by the anger in her voice; it was unusual to hear. "Sorry, just been a long day," I muttered.

She glared at me a moment longer. "We're trying to protect them," she said stiffly after a few moments, "from a hopeless cause that they can never hope to accomplish."

I didn't want to push her buttons. I realized that my accusation probably hurt her after everything she'd confided in me. She turned on her heel and began heading towards the group. I took my time catching up, barely getting to Seymour's house doors before they practically shut on me.

Rikku avoided me like the plague while we waited for the master to join us. She would subtly circle her way around the table that was provided for us, complete with food, whenever I tried to come close.

"You tick her off?" Wakka prodded, smirking.

"Hm, yeah, almost as much as you." It was supposed to be a joke, but I sounded too ticked off. I really needed to get some sleep and some answers. Wakka bit his lip and turned back to the older woman in the black dress; Lulu. Yuna stood by the blue creature, who I now knew was named Kimahri. Feeling a bit of stage fright when I thought of speaking with the Summoner, I instead approached Auron.

Unfortunately, the servant of Seymour came out first, greeting us all once again. I examined our surroundings while listening to him drone. "It's truly wonderful to have guests in these halls again," he said. He continued on, praising his Lord until he was practically blue in the face, until Seymour actually walked in.

"Quiet, Trommel. Must I always endure such praise?" His voice sent chills down my spine, causing me to turn to face him. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my shirts, trying not to fiddle; I suddenly felt awkward, and I did not like this guy. "Welcome." He made the prayer gesture, causing me to raise my eyebrow. I was still used to it being used in reference to blitzball.

"You…wanted to see me?" Yuna stuttered. The master nodded, his angular, stiff blue hair falling into his face slightly.

I could sense the tension in the room as Auron subtly interrogated the maester, unwilling to cause trouble but equally not wanting Yuna to walk headfirst into danger.

"Please, come this way," Seymour addressed us all. We followed him into another room, and I gasped as I saw the walls and the floor beneath me fall away. Rikku did the same and accidentally bumped into Lulu. The older woman smiled gently and patted her shoulder. I turned away, feeling stupidly jealous. I should have been one to catch her, after all.

The room lit up brilliantly with an electric blue glow. It was like we were on a ride through time, and suddenly I noticed buildings spring up around us, tall and so far above our heads that we couldn't see the top of them. There was a manmade waterfall in the distance with a billboard of my dead dad above it. I noticed, startled, as a cement bridge appeared below us, but suddenly people surrounded us as well and we were speeding through the city.

"Zanarkand!" I choked, shocked. Seymour nodded.

"Yes, this is Zanarkand, from one thousand years ago."

Finally, Rikku came to me, leaning close to whisper in my ear. "This is where you came from?" she asked in awe. I would have given her a scathing response after her previous aloofness, but seeing my city surround me like it was real again…I just felt homesick. I nodded.

Yuna turned suddenly from her place at Seymour's side to give me a pointed look. I could feel Rikku look between us. She seemed so sure…she smiled and nodded, turning back forward and listening to whatever Seymour had to say.

"Does she know?" Rikku asked.

"Do you even believe me?" I asked her, surprised. She bit her lip and crossed her arms.

"I guess I do."

"I don't think she knows," I pondered, grateful for Rikku's belief in what I said, but now focused on Yuna. "How could she?"

I grinned as we passed by my favorite clothing store and frowned when I saw my old house. Finally, I closed my eyes, waiting for it to be over. It hurt too much to know that I might never see home again, even if I did like it here. I heard the sounded of armor clinking and opened my eyes again. We were in a bedroom chamber, and there was a young woman sitting on the bed. A knight came into the room and approached her; she stood up to greet him.

"Lady Yunalesca," Yuna murmured in reverence.

"Yes," Seymour agreed. "She used to belong to this city. You are her namesake and entrusted with the same task as Yunalesca herself."

"What task?" I asked lamely, but managed to keep my voice down.

"Later," Rikku whispered to me.

"Yunalesca, however, did not save the world on her own," Seymour explained. The two ghostly figures embraced each other tightly. "It was this bond of true loved that helped rid the world of Sin."

The scene suddenly changed and we were enveloped in a bright white light. I clasped Rikku's hand tightly, unsure of what was happening. Through the bright light, I could see Seymour whispering in Yuna's ear. I saw her stiffen, her eyes grow wide, and I pushed forward.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" I lightly growled, shielding Yuna. The white disappeared, showing us that we were back in the dining hall. Yuna rushed away to get a glass of water and downed it so fast that she started coughing.

"You okay?" Rikku asked, coming to her side. Yuna smiled waveringly and nodded.

"What did he say to you?" I asked. Rikku shot me a warning look, like I may have been pushing too hard. I couldn't help it. I didn't trust the guy and Yuna seemed too vulnerable to be allowed to be manipulated by him. Wakka, too, grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back.

"He…he asked me to marry him."


	6. Author's Note

Hey everyone! This update is just to let you know that I've posted chapter 5 on my Livejournal in two parts. From now on, I will be updating there. Other fiction, art, random crap, etc. will also be put there. Feel free to friend me! Or ask for graphics or whatever, 'cause I like doing things like that.

Take it easy…

Anael Marie


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